My Children's Books
I am currently working on a series of children's books with each one being about a lesser known Bible character. By highlighting these lesser known people we are exposing our children to a far greater sweep of the Bible then they are currently experiencing. My stories seek to plant Christian truths in the minds of children, aged 5-8 years. These stories have been well researched and based on the facts of the Bible. My series of children's stories will grow into a collection of 50 stories with each one based on a particular Bible character. Each story will highlight the main incidents of the character's life as recorded in the Bible and will also contain a connection point to the children's own lives without adding fictional content.
More than ever children need heroes and role models. They need someone they can identify with. Some children will not relate to upfront leaders like Moses and Joshua, however a lesser known figure like Isaiah or Josiah may provide the encouragement they need to be God's person. Children need a complete overview of Bible characters, not just the prominent ones.
I believe it is important to begin teaching young children about the Bible as early as possible in their lives. Harold Burtt, an American secular psychologist, demonstrated the value of teaching young children with an interesting experiment. "He read aloud three passages from Greek literature to his two year old son. The child understood not a word of the readings. Then when the child was eight, Burtt gave the child the same three passages and three new ones to memorize. The child preformed better on the passage that had been read to him at an earlier age than on passages he had never heard. Even such early exposure to material that was not understood had left at least a faint trace in the memory" (Edson, Lee. 1976 How we learn. Time-Life International, USA. p.91). This experiment collates well with my own experience. I attended Sunday School very spasmodically when I was young but when I became a Christian I was amazed at how much I remembered from that time. If we can impart even a "faint trace" of information regarding Bible characters we have implanted something in children's lives that can be built upon later.