Andy Naselli

Thoughts on Theology

children's literature

Six Books for Children on the Bible’s Storyline

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In 2008, Jenni and I profited from reading two “documentary novels” by Paul Maier:

  1. Pontius Pilate
  2. The Flames of Rome

We recently received six of his books for children, and they’re outstanding.

1. The Real Story of Creation

2. The Real Story of the Flood

3. The Real Story of the Exodus

4. The Very First Christmas

Jenni warmly recalls reading this many times as a child.

5. The Very First Easter

6. The Very First Christians

The picture of Agrippa (p. 27) reminds me of someone I know!

Related: About a year ago, Jenni and I reviewed several hundred children’s books and highlighted our favorites: “Theology for Kids.”

Harry Potter

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HP

Jenni and I just finished listening to the best-selling book series of all time: Harry Potter.

Jim Dale masterfully reads the seven-volume unabridged audiobook. We’ve listened to a lot of audiobooks, and Jim Dale is by far the most gifted reader we’ve ever heard. Incredibly gifted.

The audiobook is 4.8 days long (about 115 hours). We thoroughly enjoyed listening to it on date nights and road trips. We’re sad it’s over.

The series is not without objectionable elements (e.g., the protagonist and his friends tell lies without negative consequences, and some of the language is not appropriate for children’s books), but overall J. K. Rowling’s story is brilliant, creative, intriguing, and entertaining. Its literary quality is not as exquisite as J. R. R. Tolkien or C. S. Lewis, but it isn’t junk food either (cf. Kevin Bauder’s series “The Christian and Fantasy Literature”). (Some of the movies, on the other hand, may qualify as junk food. Don’t judge a book by its movie.)

By the way, this may explain one of my Facebook status updates a couple of months ago:

If I become a professor at a college or seminary, I may suggest a different title than the typical “Professor of New Testament” or “Professor of Systematic Theology.” How about “Professor of Defense against the Dark Arts”?

That’s actually not a bad title. (Cf. my review of Focus on the Family Radio Theatre’s The Screwtape Letters.)

Update:

  1. Follow-up post: “Rebuked about Harry Potter“
  2. Successful Rereading: Maintaining the Magic
  3. Harry Potter Is Filled with Implicit and Explicit Christian Themes
  4. Emotional Intelligence
  5. Exulting in Harry Potter
  6. Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts

Jesus Storybook Bible Deluxe Edition

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A guest post by Jenni Naselli

deluxe

Our family was recently delighted to obtain The Jesus Storybook Bible, Deluxe Edition . Here’s what Andy and I wrote last year about this book in our review of theology books for kids:

Sally Lloyd-Jones. The Jesus Storybook Bible: Every Story Whispers His Name. Illustrated by Jago. Grand Rapids: ZonderKidz, 2007. 352 pp. $16.99.

This is the most well written children’s book we have read. It brilliantly summarizes the Bible storyline from creation to the consummation, and it emphasizes Jesus and the gospel as the key to understanding the Bible’s storyline. The subtitle captures exactly what the book does: at the end of each story, Lloyd-Jones points ahead to the story’s fulfillment in Christ (though the pointing-ahead theme seems slightly stretched for some of the stories). Lloyd-Jones acknowledges that she has “liberally borrowed” from her pastor, Tim Keller, “whose teaching informs every story” (p. 7). She skillfully crafts words that are captivating, making it hard to stop reading. Some readers may become so entrenched in the story that they will find themselves wishing that it is true (perhaps forgetting that this well written story is not a fairy tale) and then rejoicing that it is! The illustrations are simple, creative, and almost fanciful.

The deluxe edition enhances this excellent Bible-story book by adding the complete book on three audio CDs. We’ve already thoroughly enjoyed listening to several of the stories together as a family. The tracks are divided by story, and each story is approximately four minutes long—perfect for a young child’s shorter attention span. The stories are each read by British actor David Suchet.  Our family loves audiobooks, and we’re thrilled now to have The Jesus Storybook Bible audiobook!

Theology for Kids

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The latest issue of Themelios includes the following review article that my wife and I coauthored:

Andrew David Naselli and Jennifer J. Naselli. “Theology for Kids: Recommending Some Recent Books for Younger Children.” [Also available in HTML.] Themelios 33:3 (2008): 120–25.

Excerpt:

Without pretending to be experts on theological children’s literature, we have sorted through recent theology books for younger children and compiled a short list of outstanding books. Other books are undoubtedly worthy of mention, but these are our favorites. What follows organizes them in three categories and ranks the books in order, beginning with our top recommendations.

Bible Story Books

Other Story Books

Systematic Theology Books

Radio Theatre: The Chronicles of Narnia

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Over the last several weeks, Jenni and I listened to The Chronicles of Narnia, another first-class presentation by Focus on the Family Radio Theatre. Since purchasing the Narnia CDs about one year ago, this was our second time listening to this excellent twenty-two hour production (157 tracks on 19 CDs). (No, we’re not bored. We took some road trips and had some downtime with some illnesses.) It definitely beats TV.

Related:

1. Unabridged Narnia audiobooks: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

2. My previous posts on The Life of Jesus: Dramatic Eyewitness Accounts from the Luke Reports and Bonhoeffer: The Cost of Freedom.

3. Kevin Bauder’s series “The Christian and Fantasy Literature” (2005), which I have compiled into a single PDF:

  1. Definitions and Questions
  2. Evaluating Fantastic Writing
  3. Magic in Fantasy
  4. Pilgrim’s Progress
  5. The Lord of the Rings
  6. The Chronicles of Narnia
  7. The Harry Potter Books