For Children & Family
The Read-Aloud Book.
Come, let's look through time together. It starts at the very beginning, before the very first star, and it ends with you. Ready?
The Book for the Little Ones
Your child sits in the Father's place.
A read-aloud book from about age 5, with 36 large picture pages. Your child looks along the whole story, from the garden to the manger. And on the last page the gaze turns around: suddenly the child is no longer looking on, the child is being looked at.
Nothing to memorize, no wagging finger at the end. Large pictures, few words, and plenty of room to wonder.
For Parents
How this book speaks to your child.
The Bible is not a book only for grown-ups. God told his greatest message so that even the smallest child understands it: in pictures everyone knows. A shepherd searching for his little lamb. A light in the night. A father who calls.
Your child needs to learn nothing to grasp this. The child only needs to look and wonder. That is why there is no lesson and no moral at the end of this book. It invites. You do not read to instruct, you go along. And often the child understands more than we do on the last page, because the child still knows how to wonder.
Talking Together
Getting into conversation with your children.
Every station in the book comes with a small question to discover for yourselves. Let your child tell you, the child often has the clearest answer.
The Garden
God does not call to scold. He calls because he misses you.
“Where would you hide? And who would come looking for you?”
The Promise
That very evening God says: I will put this right again. He does not wait until we are good.
“Have you ever promised someone to make something right again?”
The Tent
God does not want a castle far away. He wants a tent, right close, in the midst of us.
“If God lived in your home, which room do you think he would like best?”
The Manger
The greatest gift does not come big and loud. It comes small, as a baby, into a feeding trough.
“Why do you think the king comes so small and so quiet?”
The Gaze Turns Around
On the last page you notice: someone has been looking at you the whole time.
“Who is looking at you when you close the book again?”
The same story also comes as a book for adults, with the whole line and the hidden signs.