Title: Abigail: a story book in the Mighty Girl, Mighty God series Author: Lucy Rycroft Illustrator: Andy Gray Published by: The Hope Filled Family Price: RRP £8.99 Good for: Families with children age 3-10 years old, childrens’ group where Bible stories are shared Best bit: I loved the combination of rollicking rhyme and detailed, expressive illustrations Worst bit: Rhyme is hard, and sometimes … Read more
Title: Wingfeather Tales – seven thrilling stories from the world of Aerwiar Editor: Andrew Peterson Authors: Andrew Peterson, Jennifer Trafton, N. D. Wilson, A. S. Peterson, Jonathan Rogers, and Douglas McKelvey Illustrations: Justin Gerard, Hein Zaayman, Cory Godbey, John Hendrix, Nicholas Kole, Aedan Peterson, Joe Sutphin, Jay Myers, and Doug TenNapel Published by: Hodder Faith Price: £12.99 Good for: Anyone who’s enjoyed The … Read more
Title: Mother God Author: Teresa Kim Pecinovsky Illustrator: Khoa Le Published by: Beaming Books Price: Available from Blackwells from £8.26 (March 2023) Good for: The pages are majority illustrations with small sections of text, so great for children aged 3 to 7, but I will be reading this with my children who are 9 and … Read more
Title: Breathe – child’s guide to Ascension, Pentecost and the growing time Author: Laura Alary Illustrator: Cathrin Peterslund Published by: Paraclete Price: £14.82 Good for: Families with children aged 4–11 years wanting to explain and connect with the stories of Ascension (Jesus returning to heaven) and Pentecost (the Holy Spirit comes to Jesus’ friends) in a simple … Read more
Here’s a really simple, fun and meaningful Easter activity – an Easter story treasure hunt. It’s created to work with your family at home or as part of a group or service – anywhere you want to have fun while exploring the Easter story together. You can source your own pictures, but to make it … Read more
I find it really sad that in our culture, Valentines Day has become just a way to celebrate romantic love. In many languages (including those in the Bible), there are multiple words for ‘love’, demonstrating the different types of love and different types of relationships which involve love. The most classic passage in the Bible … Read more
Title: Comfort in uncertain times Author: Rachel Turner Cover illustrator: Rebecca J Hall Published by: BRF Price: RRP £8.99 Kindle edition also available Good for: parents of children age 3-12 years Best bit: I love Rachel’s re-tellings of these 15 Bible stories – you can hear her voice as you read them Worst bit: Because of … Read more
Title: At home in Lent Written by: Gordon Giles Published by: BRF Price: £8.99 Useful for: young people and adults Best bit: a simple, daily three page read for each day in Lent, each taking a different every-day item as its theme Worst bit: as a big fan of audio books, I’d love an audio version to … Read more
Title: Dave the Donkey Author and Illustrator: Andrew McDonough Published by: Malcolm Down Price: £5.99 Useful for: children age 3-8 Best bit: Fun re-telling of Jesus’ arrival in Jerusalem, death and resurrection from the view point of the Palm Sunday donkey! Worst bit: Very fast re-telling, with few details of the Easter story – for … Read more
We’ve celebrated Passover in our home for a number of years now, and each year it’s different, as we adapt it around who will be there. We tend to have a big feast-like meal interspersed with parts of the service (seder). We include elements which we use each week in our Shabbat meal, for example … Read more
In the summer, lots of families have more flexible time which you could use to do a treasure hunt style Bible exploration. Create a simple treasure hunt by choosing a series of locations, depending on the age of your children and the time you have available, and hide a section of the story you want … Read more
Here’s a simple version of an ancient practise: Use a breathing prayer to ‘chew over’ a Bible verse. This is less of an understanding exercise and more of a feeling, meditative one. If you’ve found a verse that jumps out at you or is particularly meaningful to you at the moment, this might be something … Read more