Good Night Tales-a review

The artwork in Good Night Tales is my favorite part of this book. The colors are bold with dark edges and the  characters are delightful. Something about the artist's style whispers mystery and playfulness. Very child-catching. (C.S. Fritz writes and illustrates this work)

Each of the 12 tales is a parable of a Bible story or reference.  I wasn't persuaded all of them readily identified the story they were meant to portray, but the discussion questions in the back of the book, make the parallels very clear and bring the stories into more focus. A few of them have no text, only pictures.

 My favorite tale is the "The Song of the Cricket".  Merton Sourwood was a good fiddle player... until Cricket came to town and outplayed him with his tiny fiddle. Jealous Merton destroys the little fiddle, only to find his playing gets worse and he does not receive the popularity he wanted.  Cricket surprises Merton by accompanying him with beautiful music Cricket plays by using his own two legs. Merton is humbled by Cricket's forgiveness and from then on they play music together.  Any guesses what passage this portrays?  It's an illustration of Phil. 2:3- Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves.

While the book is beautifully done, it's full value will only be appreciated if parents or other adults will follow through with sharing the values of the Biblical perspective. This narrows the appeal of this book to Christian homes/settings that prize God's word, are constantly familiar with it and seek to apply it to all of life.

 I received this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.