Smack-Dab in the Middle of God's Love is a wonderful book about an older couple who look after the neighborhood children in a little Mexican village. They feed the children sopapillas with honey and talk to them about the love of Abba God.
The thing that I loved most about this book was the illustrations. I was taken in by the sunny, colourful paintings that graced every page. The depiction of Willie Juan and Ana (the older couple) made their characters come to life. I loved the background scenery and landscapes as well.
Brennan Manning beautifully describes the love of Abba Father in a way that children can understand and connect to. I believe that children's ideas of God come from those they are most close to. These surrogate parents generously live their life and their love of God before those who need their love and care.
I love the continued use of the phrase, "Smack-Dab in the Middle" throughout the book. It allows children who can't yet read take a part by memorizing the big red words, "SMACK-DAB IN THE MIDDLE!" I am sure most kids will shout it out with enthusiasm.
Honestly, to me the only drawback to the book was the font. I found it a little crowded and hard to read. It does however, line up with the Mexican theme of the book.
All in all, a very beautiful way to teach little ones about the love of the Father. I am now off to look up online how to make sopapillas, because Manning makes them sound irresistible!
This book was provided to me free by Book Sneeze for an unbiased review.
It Just Couldn't Happen is a book that explains to older children the differences between Evolution and Creation. It outlines and answers questions about the Big Bang Theory, the scientific and historical accuracy of the bible, Darwinism, the earth in our universe and the unique design of the human being. This book also functions as a text book, with a list of questions and experiments at the end of each chapter.
This book is so full of knowledge and scientific evidence that even as an adult I found it to be a compelling read. Lawrence O. Richards is more than qualified to speak on such an explosive issue. Pardon the pun. I appreciated how thorough his arguments were, and how he personally evokes the reader to become involved in his thought processes. He speaks at a level that older children can appreciate and understand. His exercises (although I am sure any child would grown at if assigned as homework) carries his message from thought to action.
One thing I also liked about It Just Couldn't Happen is the personal pride of being a Christian that is contagious to the reader. This is a subject that has often left Christians both children and adults alike feeling helpless and ashamed when arguing for creation. Although most of the world scoffs and holds true to Darwinism and to Evolution, Richards debunks these theories' main arguments at the core.
This book is much too extensive to detail in a book review, but I do not believe that the readers will be disappointed with the content. As a side note, I appreciated Richards clarification on the difference between The theory of Evolution and evolution with a small e.
In the end, I like how Richards brought Jesus into his arguments, bringing further glory to God for his divine plan and design for creation. I would definitely recommend this book not just for children, but for adults of influence that desire further examination on the theory of Creation.
5 stars out of 5.
This book was provided to me for free from Book Sneeze for an unbiased review.
