BIBLE PATTERNS FOR YOUNG READERS
Lee Jenkins
LtoJ Press (2020)
Reviewed by Lydia (age 7) for Reader Views Kids (05/2021)
A Day with Jesus: The Story of Zacchaeus
ISBN: 978-1-7330110-2-0
“A Day with Jesus: The Story of Zacchaeus” is about the man Zacchaeus from the Bible during the story when Jesus was coming to his town and Zacchaeus really wanted to see him. In the Bible story, Zacchaeus was short and little, and in “A Day with Jesus,” he is short and little, too, because he has to shove, crawl, and climb to see Jesus with all of the other people around. This story reminds me of the song “Zacchaeus was a wee little man” that I learned before in Sunday School. “A Day with Jesus” is about Zacchaeus wanting to see Jesus so he does what he has to to get Jesus’s attention. Finally, Zacchaeus gets to have a meal with Jesus and things are good.
The story is short and a good one for a beginning reader because there aren’t very many words. This story is a good one for me to read because I know all of the words and the story already. The pictures are good because they show what is going on.
An Evening with Daniel: The Lions’ Den Theatre
ISBN: 978-1-7330110-6-8
“An Evening with Daniel: The Lions’ Den Theatre” is a short story of some kids acting out the Bible story in the book of Daniel of Daniel in the lions’ den. The story begins with someone talking about the characters in the play, then the story begins with the kids acting it out. “An Evening with Daniel” is just like the Bible story and shows how Daniel wouldn’t listen to the new law that King Darius’s helpers tricked him into making. Daniel continued to pray to God, even though the law said to pray to King Darius. The story ends like the Bible story.
I like this book because it shows someone praying to God even when they’re told not to. I like that Daniel trusted God more than people. The pictures are different than in “A Day with Jesus” and “A Week with Joshua” because they are more like watercolors instead of cartoony. These pictures are a little more difficult to tell what is going on. Like “A Day with Jesus,” this book would also be good for young readers to read because it also doesn’t have a lot of words, but a few more.
A Week with Joshua: The Battle of Jericho”
ISBN: 978-1-7330110-4-4
“A Week with Joshua” is the story of the Battle of Jericho in the Bible. In the story, God tells his people to march around the city of Jericho for seven days and then it will be destroyed. In “A Week with Joshua,” it is the same story and it shows the seven priests blowing their trumpets but the rest of the people marching and being quiet. In the picture of the priests, one of them has a funny looking trumpet that is turquoise and twirls around and another has a yellow one that has lots of horns on it! The pictures of the trumpets are my favorite. The people follow God’s commands and then on the last day, the walls of Jericho come tumbling down! This story reminds me of the song “Joshua Fought the Battle of Jericho” that I learned in Sunday School. In this book, the days of week are shown to help the reader keep track of how many days they have marched around; this part was helpful for me, too, because I am still trying to remember my days of the week.
“A Week with Joshua” has about as many words as “An Evening with Daniel,” has pictures similar to “A Day with Jesus,” and was as much fun read as both of them. I like that all of them are about Jesus or God and show what they can do for people who believe in them.
A NOTE FROM MOM: Regarding all three of the books in the “Bible Patterns for Young Readers,” they all present to be geared toward younger readers, which is great because the younger the better to learn and hear about God and his love for us all. Lydia enjoyed reading these books by herself and to her brother, which warmed this mom’s heart. I like that these are another resource for reading Bible stories to my kids that are written in a unique and accurate way.
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