Series: Their Side of the Story
Published by B&H Publishing on June 2015
Genres: Bible Stories, Children's
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In this whale of tale, Jonah's incredible story gets told though the eyes of the whale who doesn't like what God told him to do either.
We all know the story about Jonah, but have you ever thought about what it’d be like to have been the whale? In this installment of the Have You Heard Their Side of the Story? series, Troy Schmidt and Cory Jones give you the whale’s-eye view of the whole story.
Whale is just going along about his day when God tells him to eat a human. Well, not eat exactly…but swallow. Blech! Humans? Land animals are nasty. Whale does what God wants, but not without complaining. He’s an interesting contrast to Jonah, a man on the run from doing what God wants. Through Jonah’s three days in Whale, both Jonah and Whale learn an important lesson: trust in God and obey his commands.
Implicit in this storyline is that obeying God may be uncomfortable and may get you made fun of. Whale is in severe tummy distress (wouldn’t you be?!) and gets teased by the other whales. Likewise, when we do what’s right for God, it may not always be the easiest or most pleasant thing and it may not be universally liked. It’s a clever and subtle lesson that carries off of the main theme and makes for some very thoughtful question times.
As always, Cory Jones’s illustrations are fun and vibrant. Troy Schmidt’s first-person-from-the-whale’s-mouth dialogue is just a delight. It’s sure to entertain and engage your kids all the while teaching them an important lesson from a biblical story.
I really liked how the animal’s lesson ties into the lesson learned (or taught) by its human counterpart. The series sometimes struggles with that, but I think finding the connection is important so that kids can go from the fictional story right into the historical narrative.
Have You Heard Their Side of the Story? is an excellent series I’d recommend to any young reader.
Other Books in the Series