Mike Thaler
Zondervan (2010)
ISBN 9780310715962
Reviewed by Madison Schlarman (age 4) and Mom for Reader Views (06/10)
When mom asks “Do you want to go to vacation Bible school,” her son instantly thinks no! Why should he want to go to school during the summer? Will school to learn the Bible be fun? He wants TV, games and fun times. Discover how vacation Bible school is fun to go too.
Madison: “Hey, vacation Bible school, just like what I’m going to! It’s nice and smooth. It was funny. I liked the pictures.”
Mom: This book wasn’t exciting to me. I had to coax Madison into reading it. She initially told me she didn’t like it and thought it was boring. I responded as I always do and asked her to give it a try. I cannot blame her though. With so many books on the market to choose from, many readers judge a book by its cover. If the title or cover art does not capture you, you move on. The book is aimed specifically for children who don’t want to go to vacation Bible school because they think it will be boring or they don’t’ understand its’ importance. However, I didn’t feel the book carried out its mission. After reading it I didn’t want to go to VBS anymore than I did in the beginning. I was actually afraid it would make my daughter, who was excited about VBS, not want to go anymore. My daughter enjoyed the book enough after we read it, but she wasn’t really interested in the book. The book seems to well fit boys ages 4 – 8, who aren’t interested in VBS.
I gave the book two stars because I feel the audience it pertains to is rather narrow. “Vacation Bible Snooze” could have still given the same message in a different presentation and been much better. I was surprised my daughter liked the artwork in the book. I haven’t seen many books about VBS, but it seems one that is exciting and encouraging would be better than one that automatically puts the idea of boredom in your head with the title.
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