As a parent of 3 kids under the age of 7 I look for creative options to explain the gospel to them. I regularly find myself challenged to communicate the biblical concept of idolatry to them. Because let’s face it, kids understand rules and the need to follow them. What is so often misunderstood is the nature of the heart and the need to worship God. This is a constant struggle for me as a parent because I don’t want to raise rule keepers that think that they are their own Savior but instead worshipers who cling to Christ who kept all the rules in our place!
Therefore, I am blessed to be able to introduce my little girls to Full Moon Rising by T. Lively & Kristi Fluharty. This talented and gospel-centered family teams up to help kids to see something of the ugliness of idolatry. The story is of a little boy who is repeating an account of how the moon decided to take all the credit for all of the blessings that he (it) has received. He boasts in his ability to ‘change shape’, be bright, and even receive visitors from earth to walk on his face. In addition to the simple but profound rhyming the illustrations are fantastic. You can tell that Mr Fluharty has a terrific sense of humor as well as a firm grip on the gospel. The story ends with the moon seeing the ugliness of robbing from the sun when he is confronted by the glorious heat of the sun. Great stuff. And great opportunities for parents to launch into a myriad of gospel themes.
I tested on our kids the first night and Alexis (5) gave it 83 out of 5 stars (that is what she said). Alaynah gave it 5/5 stars. The rest of the family weighed in at about 4/5 stars due to our hope that their would have been a few more pages on how this translates to the creation, God and the work of Jesus. But I suppose that this is the parent’s job!
I think it’s a great book that is fun and extremely helpful to parents in communicating some main themes of the gospel to our kids.
*Note* Crossway has allowed you to preview the entire book here at Westminster Books. Take a jump over there and look!