Big Truths for Young Hearts: Teaching and Learning the Greatness of God by Bruce A. Ware

I love when a wonderful resource comes out that is done in an easy to read and understand format for multiple ages that can easily explain Biblical truths. Big Truths for Young Hearts is one of those books, geared for parents of children ages 6 - 14, it explains Christian theology in an easy to read and understandable format.


Oftentimes parents can find themselves lost in answering questions and this book can be a jumping off place to start in explaining Biblical truths. The truths covered in this book make it a good read for any denomination of Christianity who believes the Jesus is the Savior and He is the only way to Heaven. One chapter discusses God as Three in One and goes on to break down into there is only one God, one God in three persons, the Father is God, The Son is God, The Holy Spirit is God and how the Father, Son and Holy Spirit relate.


At the end of each chapter are questions for thought, which even the youngest child could answer with rephrasing it for the child's age or ability. Also included are a memory verse - the family can use their own version of the Bible for this or use the book which is using the ESV (English Standard Version). I really enjoy the straight forward approach to teaching children about God - which all Christian parents should strive for.


Overall, this book is a wonderful resource for any Christian family and it will prove to be invaluable to the homeschooling family as it would definitely be an easy way to approach devotionals and teaching about the Bible in a easy to do manner, especially with multiple age ranges.

**I'd like to thank Amy Stephansen at Crossway for providing a copy of this book for my honest review.

What Does the Bible Say About That? by Carolyn Larsen

Children often wonder what the Bible says about certain topics wether it's something as mundane as math class or something as serious as abortion, children will wonder. Crossway and Carolyn Larsen have put out a great book that can help children (recommended for ages 8 to 12) understand what the Bible says on topics that concern their lives.

There are 300 topics included in "What Does the Bible Say About That?", that range from animals to laziness, clothes to drug abuse and others like dieting, dancing, sex, tattoos and other topics. Mrs. Larsen writes the book in a friendly, familiar style that talks to children instead of at them or down on them. The easy reading style is accompanied by cute cartoons that drive home important points about the topic.

Each topic begins with a question: "What does the Bible say about....?" and then addresses what the Bible says. I didn't find anything that would be controversial or un-Biblical in regards to what the Bible would say about any of these topics. The next part is a few Scripture on what the Bible does say on that topic, the version of the Bible used and quoted is the English Standard Version. Time to face the facts is the next section, it gives guidance that the child can use to direct what they should or shouldn't do according to what the Bible says. Lastly, there is a section that gives the child something to do to on that day to reinforce what they learned from reading.

This book isn't too take away the parent's authority but can serve as a way to open dialouge between parent and child on topics that otherwise may be hard to discuss or for the parent to know what to say. My daughter, who is 7, really enjoyed reading the sections I allowed her to and she says she always wants to keep this book - which is fine by me.

I will say that there were a few sections that I used some non-permanent glue and paper to cover over since I don't feel that children are ready for some of these things at the age this book is geared for, such as boys, dating, drinking, drug abuse, puberty and sex. These are things that while they will eventually have to know about but at the tender, innocent age of 8 to 12 they don't need the information even though it is Biblically based - I read those sections. Although I will say if the child is in a public or private school there may be a need for them to read these sections and discuss them with their parents. As a homeschool family these issues haven't and won't arise for awhile.

Overall this book is a great and well worth it read. The child can easily read it by themselves or read it together with a parent for a devotional. I would recommend this book to the family that isn't sure what they should say regarding certain topics that will come up during the growing up years.