PUBLICATION DATE: AUGUST 21, 2012

esus Feeds the Hungry by Crystal Bowman is a children’s book in the Beginner’s Bible series. Jesus heals an army captain’s servant without ever meeting him. Then he heals a lame man whose friends lower him through a roof where Jesus is preaching. Then he heals a sick woman who simply touches his garment with the faith that a mere touch of Jesus could heal her twelve-year disease. Then he raises the daughter of Jairus from the dead. Later on, he rubs some mud on a blind man’s eyes, tells him to wash in the river, and suddenly the blind man can see! On Jesus’ way toJerusalem, he came across ten lepers who asked for his help. Jesus healed them as they went to the priest, as Jesus instructed them to do.

Jesus is fantastic, and His miracles make for great books. I love how the author points out that Jesus had this power because He is the Son of God. He has the power to forgive sins and heal people. He can judge the amount of faith that people have, and He sometimes puts value to that faith by healing them. The colorful illustrations also show Jesus smiling, which I just can’t get enough of. I was also glad that there was a Bible verse on the title page.

On the other side of the coin, showing so many women with uncovered hair is just historically inaccurate, the blondes especially. I did like the different ethnicities shown, though. Dressing in purple was a sign that you were very wealthy back then, so each time I saw yet another character dressed in the expensive color, it confused me. And once again, the author’s name is not on the outside cover. Poor Crystal Bowman! Her name is very tiny, and buried at the bottom of the copyright page.

–Mary Twomey

esus Heals the Sick is a children’s book that puts together several stories from the Bible of Jesus healing those who were sick. 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 healing the various people, especially how it pulled it several of the healings together into one story. 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 when the people put their friend through the roof.

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 little Bible story book telling about many of the people who were healed by Jesus during his life here on Earth.

–Sara Shoop