Noah and the Mighty Ark - A Review

This is a review of Noah and the Mighty Ark, a children's book by Rhonda Gowler Greene.

When I opened the package containing this book, my 17 month-old son came over and picked it up right away. He wanted me to read it to him immediately.

The book is full of fun and colorful illustrations and catchy rhymes. It is fun when it talks about the snakes s-s-slithering, the rain plip-plopping, and the wind whooshing. There is one thing that this book is lacking, however. It lacks plot. I know. You may ask, "It's the story of Noah. How can it lack plot?" Well, when Noah builds an ark, puts a bunch of animals in it, it rains, and then it dries up and they all come out of the ark with no explanation of why they did that - that's a lack of plot to me. Not only that, but it almost takes God out of the story. One wonders if this was inspired by the movie Noah, which I hear has a severe lack of God talk.

This book simply says that God found "one good man, strong and kind" to build an ark. It never mentions why Noah is building the ark. Sin does not come in to the picture at all. Then, at the end of the book it talks about God's rainbow promise, but never mentions what this promise is. So it's really not that this book lacks God so much as it lacks Noah's relationship with God. The important lesson children should learn from the Noah story is that God protects those who are righteous and that faith in God can get you through the storm. This book is cute. I will still read it to my sons. But I will be sure to explain to them why Noah built the ark and what God's promise was to Noah and his people since the author of this book decided to leave that part out.

I receive these books free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookLook Bloggers book review program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”