I received “Uncle Jesus” by Georgia Lee Anderson (Illustrated by Max Stasuyk) as a free review copy through BookCrash (http://www.bookcrash.com) by the publishers (Aspect Books – http://www.ASPECTBooks.com is the company that published said book)
I am now going to give my thoughts on it :)
“Uncle Jesus” as may be guessed from the title, is a children’s book, written through the perspective of Jesus’ brothers’ son. It was a cute read, and the pictures were very colourful and well done, sure to capture anyone’s attention, definitely a child’s. Obviously it was short, and it took me only a day to read it (less than a day), but it was a nicely done book. However, there is something I would like to point out. There was a pretty critical error in “Uncle Jesus”. It is about 15 pages in, where “Grandma Mary” is explaining to her grandson, “Shem”, why Jesus’ brothers, her sons, had a hard time believing Jesus was who He said He was. Written is: “…After all, He was their little brother – the one they teased and were sometime not too friendly with.” (This was taken directly out of “Uncle Jesus” by Georgia Lee Anderson). Jesus was not the little brother, as Mary was a virgin when the angel of God told her she was to have a Son. On the next page, “Grandma Mary” does say that she was not married when the angel brought the news, but the error is still there. I think this is a very important error, because it is an inaccurate retelling of God’s Word. When writing even a child’s book based on Biblical accounts, they need to be correct in every manner, as it is not just a book, but the Living Word. I will keep this book for my future children, but I will be sure to explain to my children what the Bible says, as I think is a vital thing in every book read to children. I also think that, though this was a cute book, it could have gone deeper on the life of Jesus from a child’s perspective. I know some think that children maybe don’t receive as much, but I think they are very receptive.
All in all, I give the book 3 stars rating. It was good, besides the error of Jesus’ age in His earthly family. Again, I believe that books written from Bible accounts simply must be carefully written and edited, making sure God’s Word is taken correctly, with all the facts He gives.
I am thankful for the chance to review “Uncle Jesus”. =)
(And to my readers: I am hoping to do a personal review about the movie “The Avengers” as we watched that recently and I did a lot of thinking on it. So, hopefully that will come next!)
Gods Peculiar Treasure Rae 