PUBLICATION DATE: AUGUST 21, 2012

esus Feeds the Hungry is a children’s book that tells the story from the Bible of Jesus feeding the five thousand (Matthew 14:13-21; Mark 6:30-44; Luke 9:10-17; John 6:1-15). The artwork is taken from The Beginner’s Bible, also from Zondervan, and it is in a soft cover format.

I liked this retelling of Jesus feeding the five thousand. It stays accurate to the verses from the Bible but uses language that is somewhat easier for younger ones to understand and to read. The pictures are nice and colorful, but I thought they were a bit on the cartoon-y side. (It’s something about the eyes…they pop out at you).

When I asked my three-year-old daughter what she liked best about the book, she said she liked the pictures of the fish and that “it was a miracle!”

The recommended age group is 2-5, and I think that is an appropriate target for this book. My daughter was interested in the story and liked the pictures. It is a nice Bible story book telling about a wondrous miracle that was performed by Jesus during his life here on Earth.

–Sara Shoop

esus Feeds the Hungry by Crystal Bowman is a children’s book in the Beginner’s Bible series. Jesus goes off in a boat to rest a little, but the crowd wants to hear him teach more, so he takes pity on them, healing their sick and teaching until the sun goes down. The disciples tell Jesus to send the crowd home so they can eat, but Jesus said that they could feed the crowd of over five thousand. He asks if there is anyone who has food, and a young boy comes forward with his lunch of five loaves of bread and two fish. Jesus prays, breaks the bread, and tells the disciples to pass it out. The small lunch feeds everyone, with twelve large baskets of leftovers. Everyone praises God. Then Jesus goes off to finally get some rest.

I love this story, and I’m glad that it’s made into a picture book for my kids to enjoy. The illustrations use bright primary colors, and the wide eyes of the people make the characters pop. The book talks not just about Jesus feeding the crowd, but it also addresses where he was before, and what he did after. The illustrations show Jesus smiling on a few of the pages. I love it when Jesus smiles.

There were a few things about the illustrations that I’m probably being too picky about. Namely, the women with uncovered hair, which just wouldn’t have happened as often as it is shown in this book. The blonde women were certainly strange to see inBethsaida. Also, purple was a color for royalty, and while Jesus is the king, I’ve never read about him spending the extra money on fine garments to distinguish himself. My other issue is that the author’s name is not on the outside cover. Poor Crystal Bowman! Her name is very tiny, and buried in the copyright page.

–Mary Twomey