Jonah and the Worm

One of the best books I read in Seminary! Thank you, Chuck VanEngen. "And God provided ..." What a great spin on the reluctance of a successful minister vs the obedience of a simple worm. Lest we be too hard on Jonah, Dr. VanEngen asks the question at the end of the study, "Okay. Who wrote Jonah?" Cook on that one for a while, fellow worms! Also, you will probably find a realistic price online at Fuller's book store.

This is such a good book, such imagination on the simple story of Jonah in the Bible. It's written from the perspective of the Worm that eats the plant which God gives Jonah for shade. It's an example of how God's creatures just obey God while man may argue and try not to obey God, but God's Will will be done! I've read it several times to my children and they loved this story too.

There aren't enough books out there that teach children deeper theological truths. There aren't enough books that teach adults deeper theological truths and are a fun read. This book does both. My seminary professor would refer to this as the best book on missiology he had ever seen, and it was one of his required readings. It's great for 10 yr.-olds to read on their own, or for reading a chapter a night to younger children. The illustrations are well-done and engage kids, without distracting from the text itself. Too often books for kids that talk of the Bible will only deal with the same hacked-out stories of Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, David, Jesus, et. al. These are good stories, but the same ones appear to be continuously recycled, with little discussion of others present, or other truths in the old stories. If they hear about the Bible, children often grow up with certain ideas weeded out, that they "aren't ready to handle". Some parts of the Bible evidently need to be censored or in some way kids should not hear of truth. Missions is a large area that is not significantly covered for kids. Briscoe takes the idea of what might have been going on with the worm that appears in Ch. 4 of the book of Jonah. After all, God directs all things, does He not? If so, then what was he doing with that worm...

I'm so sad that this book is out of print! I just finished reading it with my 7-year-old, and it is one of the best Christian books I've ever read. I think I enjoyed it as much as my son did.The story includes parallel tales of Jonah, known as the Worker (who disobeys God...with "fishy" consequences, as we know), and Little Worm (who obeys God). It's well-written, clever and engaging, and teaches many Biblical truths along the way. If you can get hold of a copy, buy it!