While we’re living lives close to home—perhaps homeschooling kids we hadn’t planned on homeschooling or filling time with toddlers but without libraries—please feel free to comment below or email me (thea@littlebookbigstory.com). I would love to help you find good books for your family! I can’t drop them off at your house, but I can at least try to find some titles your family will love. (And thank you so much to those of you who reached out last week! It is a joy to get to help out somehow, even from afar.)
You know that middle part of the Bible with all the skinny books by people with names like Habakkuk and Obadiah? That’s a mysterious stretch of Scripture, even for many adults. But 30 Prophecies: One Story invites kids to consider those books (the minor prophets) as well as the better-known major prophets (like Isaiah and Jeremiah), by connecting those prophecies with the One who fulfilled them—every single one.
Though a picture book, 30 Prophecies: One Story is a devotional intended for older readers. Paul Reynolds lays each prophecy out in a way that helps readers grasp the context for the prophet, the prophecy itself, the way Jesus fulfilled that prophecy, and the way that prophecy connects to the rest of Scripture. Each reading closes, as well, with an application section and a prayer. It’s a beautiful and coherent way to read the Bible, and for my history-minded daughter, I think it’s a way that will resonate with her.
In hindsight, this would have made an excellent devotional for Lent. Ah, hindsight. As it is, it would be a great Easter gift (and will be, in our house).
We are, like so many of you, firmly entrenched at home. Mitch’s office is the living room couch; the girls and I are back to homeschooling, as schools are closed state-wide until late April. Our church has moved to online services, and we only leave the house to shop for groceries or to take a short—but socially distant—walk to the neighbor’s, to watch their chickens. Even the library is closed.
It is a strange time.
I know that many of you are in the same boat. I found myself wondering what I can do, from here, to help other families who are suddenly at home all the time with kids, and here are a few things that crossed my mind:
1) I love helping you find good books for your kids, and I know that the long days at home may call for great new read-alouds, or chapter books for a school-age reader now passing the time at home. Or books full of art project ideas. Or books with elaborate pictures that will keep little kids busy for a while. You are always welcome to email me (thea@littlebookbigstory.com), and I will do my best to help you find the book (or books!) you’re looking for. (You don’t even really have to know what you want. Just tell me a little about you and your family, and I’ll come up with a short list of ideas for you.)
2) The Little Book, Big Story book list is always available to you! It is organized by genre, and each book is labelled by age, and each title links to the full blog review (and each review contains a link to the book’s Amazon listing), so you should be able to find some new family favorites there. You can access the book list here.
3) If school closures mean that you are unexpectedly homeschooling, I would love to help in any way I can. Please feel free to email me (thea@littlebookbigstory.com). I may not be able to answer your questions myself, but I may be able to help direct you toward someone who can. And a lot of curriculum publishers and online programs are offering free or dirt-cheap resources right now for families like yours. I may be able to connect you with some that suit your family. (Do you know of any good ones? Please share them in the comments below!)
4) Lastly, I’m going to keep sharing good books here. Because we’re in the middle of Lent, I already had some great, gospel-filled books scheduled, and I love that we get to keep reminding each other of the truth even now, when things seem so uncertain. But God is not uncertain. He is steadfast and unchanging, and though we are living through one of scarier chapters of his story now, we know that this story has a happy ending.
And that is what today’s book review is all about.
Jesus is surprising: A God that became a baby? A master that serves his servants? A king that dies for his people? This is the truth at the heart of God’s Very Big Surprise.
In this latest book in the wonderful Tales That Tell the Truth series, Randall Goodgame (of Slugs & Bugs!) uses the parable of the good master to tell the story of Jesus’ ascension and return. He also weaves the gospel into the story. And he gives us a vision for what we can do to serve Jesus while we wait for his return.
This is a small picture book, but it is filled with big and glorious truths. And they are truths our families need to hear again and again right now: God knows the end of our story! None of this comes as a surprise to him! I am so grateful for books like this one, that encourage adults as well as kids.
You can find the rest of the books in the Tales That Tell the Truth series (and I really hope you read them all) right here.
Disclosure: I did receive a copy of this book for review, but I was not obligated to review this book or compensated for my review in any way. I share this book with you because I love it, not because I was paid to do so.
Long, long ago, I shared The Garden, the Curtain and the Crosswith you. Remember that one? It was my first introduction to the series I came to adore, the one that has somewhat overrun my blog, because I’ve never met an installment that I didn’t want to share with you.
The Garden, the Curtain and the Cross looked at the entire story of Scripture and told it—winningly—in one short picture book. It is the best, and smallest, introduction I’ve found to the gospel and the entire storyline of the Bible. And now (oh joy!) the book has an accompanying Easter devotional, as well as an Easter calendar. You know those Advent calendars with the doors you open to reveal some little hidden picture? It’s like that. I love it.
The devotional is a two-week devotional, so it won’t take you all the way through Lent. But it will give you a running start at Holy Week, and it will start some great family discussions. The readings are scripted, with times for prayer and discussion as well as reading from Scripture. And it features Catalina Echeverri’s lovely illustrations from the picture book.
Though this devotional is a companion to The Garden, the Curtain and the Cross, you don’t have to read the picture book to benefit from the devotional. Carl and Lizzie Laferton explain, in the introduction, that the devotional looks at some of the passages that informed the picture book and borrows language from the picture book, but it can be read on its own.
(That said, I still think you should read The Garden, the Curtain and the Cross. You’ll love it.)
Easter is a season best enjoyed with a back story—the Resurrection is delightful on its own, of course, but how much more powerful is it after Good Friday? And how much more significant is Good Friday after Holy Week? And how meaningful is Holy Week after we’ve been reminded of the whole, grand story of Scripture? That is what this devotional is about.
Disclosure: I did receive copies of this for review, but I was not obligated to review this book or compensated for my review in any way. I share this book with you because I love it, not because I was paid to do so.
This weekend the rain stopped for two full days and the sun shone down on us and we rejoiced. All day Saturday, Mitch and I shoveled compost, and in the evening we took ibuprofen and warm baths. Sunday, again, I went back to work with my sidekicks, and I sowed flower seeds while they waged lightsaber battles among the garden beds.
February puts a spell on us: a dreary, it-will-be-like-this-forever spell. But the first sunny weekend, when the weather is warm enough to play outside without a parka, puts an end to that. No, we realize, the gray won’t last forever! Blue sky is still up there, above the clouds. The sun won’t always filter through them but will, one day, shine directly upon us.
And so, to celebrate that glimpse of the sky above the gray clouds, I want to share with you a springy book—one we’ve had for so long and that I love so much it shocked me to learn I hadn’t shared it with you yet.
Little Seed: A Life is a board book, following the life of one little seed. Gardening metaphors are some of the best I’ve found for the Christian life, and Callie Grant takes this one and tucks some profound truths into a beautiful, simple story.
The book follows Little Seed as it is plucked up and carried and dropped and buried and seems to lie still for a time. But, Grant reminds us, God gave the seed everything it needed to endure the winter and prepare for spring. Reading this story with a preschooler is great fun, because they’re two steps ahead of you: I know what’s happening! It’s growing! The mystery to them is: What kind of seed is it? What kind of plant will it become?
But as an adult, there’s much to savor, too, and that makes this the best sort of children’s story. The seed goes through death to bring life to others; even in the bleakest place, God still provides for it; the seed’s faithful growth sends out a flurry of new seeds. These are the things I love thinking about as I tuck echinachea and valerian seeds into the soil: death, for the Christian, yields life. And our long wait, beneath a closed gray sky, will one day end. The birds remember, and they sing about it. The bulbs know, and they herald spring’s coming.
During Lent, we, too, remember and wait for the Light to pierce those clouds. Little seeds, he is coming!
Fern and Dale and their parents move to the tiny town of Cream City to live with their grandfather. Right away, the kids discover that something is different about the town, and the fun of this story comes not through a slow revelation of what it is that makes Cream City different—Fern tells us right away: it’s magic!—but through the discovery of what it’s like for Fern and Dale to live in an enchanted town.
Written for those new to chapter books, The World of the Wazzlewoods is a delightful introduction to Cream City and its inhabitants. Edward Roijas’s illustrations are perfectly suited to the story—charming and beautiful and somehow just right. Tyrel Bramwell’s welcome to Cream City gives me hope that he has plenty of other stories to share about it (like the sequel, The Bird Battle of Artisan Alley!). Our family looks forward to reading them.
Disclosure: I did receive a copy of this book for review, but I was not obligated to review this book or compensated for my review in any way. I share this book with you because I love it, not because I was paid to do so.
