Book Reviews

Love Tales from the Ark. Have read several times to my children and will keep so I can read to my grand kids and great grand kids.

This is a delightful book that our two daughters adored when they were children. True be told, as an adult, I might have loved it more! Told from the perspective of the animals aboard the ark, it captures what we have come to think of as the personalities of the creatures and gives us a whimsical insight into daily life with Noah and his family.

Wonderful! What an engaging story, with interesting characters and plot. Christopher Rabbit found a parcel with the Bible inside. He decided to share the stories with caravan travelers (other animals). Rabbit’s storytelling interrupted with questions is great way for children to understand the meaning of each story. The book is simple, highly effective and the perfect length. The illustrations are really cute!

This was a really fun book to read out loud to my 4 year old when we were in the car. I really like how it uses fictional characters on a journey to introduce a few Bible stories. I also appreciated how the characters ask very valid questions about the Bible stories that my son probably would have asked if they weren’t written in the book. This is a great small chapter book for young readers, or to read with little ones who can’t read on their own yet. There’s a few pictures spread throughout which I thought were an excellent addition to the story, and helpful for little ones to better comprehend what was going on in the story.

28 April 2018
I know that nowadays there are some people who get really uptight about allowing children to read anything to do with the bible, citing child abuse, and the religious people claiming that this is all that should be read. What a boring world for both types as they miss out on some great tales, not only from the bible as here, but legends and myths from other cultures. So although an atheist myself I have no problem with children reading something like this book, or reading it myself, after all this is a fun read. Avril Rowlands is an English author who used to work for the BBC, but nowadays writes quite a bit, with a number of books in publication. Here she is joined by Kay Widdowson, who provides a number of wonderfully fun illustrations throughout this book. Here then we meet Caravan Bear, his dog Whitby, and the horse Hector, who pulls their gypsy caravan as they start out on a journey for pleasure.Our three friends then meet Christopher Rabbit, who is feeling rather alone as it looks like no one has turned up for his birthday. However, he has just found that something has been left for him – a Bible. Meeting others as they travel about, so Christopher tells the other animals of tales in the Old Testament, and we get their reactions to what they are told. What I liked about this is that it is fun, and the stories are told quite quickly and easily, with longer ones abridged to just a certain incident. So we read of Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Noah and others with the animals’ exclamations. The animals ponder and ask questions that children would ask, and they work out the answers between them, so this really makes you think of friendship and helping each other as well as the particular aspects of the tales that are read out. With the illustrations as well, this is something good to read to little ones, and those that are slightly older will be able to read by themselves.

We received a copy of The Animals’ Caravan: ‘The Journey Begins’ from NetGalley, and what a privilege! This book is so much fun! Animals on vacation and Christopher Rabbit has a Bible. He reads stories from it in the evening, and though somewhat abridged, they are accurate. And usually applicable to something else happening in the story.

The Journey Begins: Caravan Bear’s Fun Bible Stories I don’t know what reading a book or watching a movie is like at your house, but around here there is frequent interruption with questions and wondering why.

In the Animal Caravan, the animals will connect random truths and ask and answer many of the questions that you or your family may be asking. For example: “So why didn’t God choose Aaron instead of Moses?” asked Whitby. Hector suddenly looked up.” it’s a bit like Jonah, isn’t it? He didn’t want to do what God asked him either.”“Did Moses end up in a big fish too?” asked Whitby eagerly. “No, Moses didn’t run away like Jonah did…” The animals ask all kinds of things and Caravan Bear usually has a good answer, while Whitby the dog and Hector the Horse are more creative. Then Christopher Rabbit either has a Biblical answer or says “I’m sure God had his reasons” then continues to tell the story. Note, there is occasional name-calling between the animals (stupid being the worst), which I didn’t care for, but its easy to skip.