God Makes Love, Truth & Holiness Work

Author: Al Hiebert
Genre: Children

This third book in the Growing Up In Christ series raises sound medical science and what the Bible teaches in contrast to the fictions our secular culture wants us to believe about tween character growth, including bullying and sex. The parent appendix suggests important resources, including more Scriptures and relevant videos on the web. Diagrams and sketches enrich the text. Based on their unique love for their kids, parents choose topics suitable for their 8-12-year-olds (or younger or older as parents choose).

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Reviewer: Margaret Welwood

Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. (Proverbs 22:6, KJV)
 
There is a great deal of truth, wisdom and sound doctrine in the pages of this book, and the love of the writer for God and His Word, and for the people God has created, shine though his words.
 
However, I feel that there is far too much information for the age group for which the book is intended.
 
To begin with, I took the liberty of checking out a section with the Fry Graph, and it yielded a score of grade 7. However, this book is intended to be read by children between the ages of eight and twelve, and their parents.
 
Even more problematic is the mass of information, some of it repeated, that is presented. In order to make the book accessible to eight- to twelve-year-olds, I suggest the following:
 

• Make the actual text shorter. Break it into sections. Use bullet points.

 

• Make liberal use of artwork similar to that in other books and magazines for tweens.

 

• Use bolding, highlighting and other techniques to help those who tend to skim.
  

 

• Eliminate much of the repetition.

 

• Give concrete examples of how real tweens have addressed or could address problems by applying Biblical principles. Mini testimonials could be highly effective here.

 

• Try out the material on several tween focus groups, and a focus group of adults who work with that age group. Not only can these provide feedback on the content and presentation, they could also be a rich source of mini testimonials.

 

• Where possible, use tweens’ own words in phrasing the questions to be answered in the book.

 

• Consider dividing the book into two, one for younger youth and one for older youth, in light of the maturity required to handle some of the issues.

 
I hope my comments will not be seen as discouraging; they are not meant to be. Although I haven’t written much for tweens, I am somewhat familiar with this age group and believe that the above suggestions may help to make this important information more accessible. As it stands, I believe this book is a valuable resource for adults who work with this age group in a Christian setting.

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