There are many books, movies, plays and shows that fall into the category we would place this book in. This is a dramatization of a portion of scripture. One of the more popular recent examples is “The Chosen” series. In these productions the person or people in charge of the content almost always fill in the ‘missing’ content, sometimes seen as the white space between the verses in the Bible, by deciding what it may have been like. For example, had Jesus had interactions with the disciples before meeting them at the tax booth or on the seashore… telling them to follow Him?
In the case of this book, there is a lot of this “filling in the gaps”. We get presented with questions that many of us have never thought of or only given short glances at. How did God call the animals to Noah and his family? How did God preserve the animals on the arc? What was it like for Noah’s family in the long lead-up to the flood during the arc’s construction? This book creates an engaging story that fills in what it may have been like. If you are comfortable with this, you will likely love this story for your kids. It is all really interesting and will certainly get your young reader’s (and your) wheels turning. If you are not comfortable with this type of content… this is most certainly not the book for you.
We should mention that the “filling in the gaps” here all seems very reasonable from a Christian perspective. This is a kids book so there are times the animal characters are doing silly things, but overall the “how it could have happened” is done well. All that said, there is only one really “strange” instance we want to point out. The author, at the end, has God grant the two main characters (a dog and a cat) ‘immortality’. There is no question this is odd and out of place. We quickly come to realize the author is doing this to setup a way for them to be able to visit future biblical events later in the series.
Beyond that consideration this book is rock solid. God is a focus in the dedication and the author’s acknowledgements. There is a reference to the true story of the flood in the Bible right at the start. The story starts right before the flood as God starts to call Noah’s family and the animals onto the arc. The animals know “The Maker” and hear from Him. There are really nice times of focus on prayer and its impact on providing direction in life (as well as the risks of operating without it). It also does a nice job of personalizing the people (and animals) of the story. Satan’s character is shown accurately to be dangerous and deceptive in a way that can be used to warn children.
Our recommendation is to consider enjoying this one with your children, reading the Scripture with them beforehand. This would allow you to get the vast amount of good out of this story, while recognizing what we are not sure about on this side of Heaven. The tale of Noah’s Ark is one we Christian parents want to be close by for anyway… ensuring our children understand the weight and seriousness of sin as well as the overwhelming grace of the Creator who has always had a remnant of those who faithfully follow Him no matter how crazy it looks to the surrounding culture.
If you do decide to check out this book and enjoy it, there is a whole series to enjoy!
