Walking in Courage / Why Easter?

Title: WALKING IN COURAGE: Stories of Virtue’s Forest

Author: Tanya Shock and Roger Thomson

Publisher: Westbow Press

August 2012

ISBN:  978-1-4497-3443-5

Genre: Children

Charlie is a tiny mouse. On his way to school one day, he is accosted by a bully who steals his lunch and pushes him into a mud puddle. Charlie is hurt and upset and he cries, but a kind, grandfatherly skunk helps him out of the mud puddle and helps him get cleaned up.

Charlie determines to be kind to others, so when he sees the bullies attacking Angie skunk he is quick to step up to defend her. This gave Angie the courage to defend herself, and they became friends.

But when Charlie and Angie see one of the bullies, Daniel, crying in a mud puddle, will they be kind to him? Or will they bully him in return?

WALKING IN COURAGE is a cute little kid’s book. It has a great message about bullying and how kids should respond to it. A necessary lesson in this day and time. My girls (ages 10 and 7) read it through in a short time, and when I asked them what they thought of it they ranked it a 4 out of 5 stars because they expected Charlie’s dream to come true and instead that was kind of a part of the story that went no where.

I recommend this book for elementary age students in public school. If a private or Christian school has this problem then it’d be good for them too. Homeschooled children, probably not so much, unless the neighborhood kids bully them. Beautiful illustrations. Rather pricy at $12.95. 24 pages.

***

Title: WHY EASTER

Author: Barbara Reaoch

Illustrator: Carol McCarty

Publisher: Shepherd Press

February 2012

ISBN: 978-1936908318

Genre: Childrens devotions/Easter

Easter is a celebration of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. But how many children know why Jesus died and came to life again?  This illustrated devotional contains 28 lessons – one for each day of the four weeks leading up to Easter – in a short, focused format designed to help parents show the Christ of Easter to their children.

Each devotionally is beautifully illustrated. It starts with a scripture reading for you to look up and read from the translation of your choice, then includes a recap of the story in story form for the child to listen to.  It ends with discussion questions to make sure the children understand what they heard, so you can help them clear up any misunderstandings.

A verse to memorize is included, as well as a discussion question for that verse, and a song to sing about Easter, and then a word or word phase to define and discuss.

Christians will want to make sure that their children will understand what we really are celebrating on Easter (not just Spring, candy, and the Easter bunny) and their children will come to a clear understanding of why we celebrate.

Recommended for church libraries, homeschoolers, Christian schools, and any other Christian house that has devotions with their children. Pricy at $14.95. 72 pages.