A Book Review from Books At a Glance
By Kristin Stiles
Imagine a college professor who has taught through a specific book of the Bible semester after semester for years taking that accumulated knowledge, synthesizing it into its most clear and basic terms and then partnering with a gifted illustrator to create a children’s book. That is exactly what you have in Follow Jesus with Peter. The entire book of 1 Peter is paraphrased by the author to make it accessible to young children without losing the richness of the doctrines presented within it.
The structure of this book is truly wonderful. Sleeman presents just a few verses at a time in his own paraphrase from the original Greek New Testament. These paraphrases are very child friendly and are supplemented with definitions of terms or phrases that might be unfamiliar to a child. Each section of verses also includes written prayers. To use this as a family devotional, parents could read the verses, discuss the terminology, and then close in a prayer that is specifically related to what they have just read. Accompanying each passage are the most delightful illustrations. This book is just enjoyable to look at!
This isn’t your typical children’s book. It isn’t a cute or adventurous story that teaches some theological point. It is a book that makes the Bible more engaging to small children. We don’t often think of turning to the epistles when we share Bible stories with our kids. This is a way to introduce them to parts of the New Testament that they might not have much familiarity with. I think this is a brilliant idea and I think it was produced in the ideal way. I hope that we will be seeing more books like this in the future.
Kristin Stiles is a home-school mom, a Sunday School teacher, and helps lead the “Young, Reading, & Reformed” children’s ministry at Reformed Baptist Church of Franconia, PA.
Buy the books
FOLLOW JESUS WITH PETER: HIS LETTER IN 25 READINGS, by Matthew Sleeman