The Really Radical Book for Kids

 The Really Radical Book for Kids, Champ Thornton (New Growth Press, 2023)

This is a very welcome sequel to Thornton's first The Radical Book for Kids. Many of the comments I wrote for that review are relevant here, so I'll repeat some of them for those who didn't see it then, or have forgotten about it - or, now have kids in their life in this category and now it seems more relevant!

Let's say you want to give the child in your life a Christian book. But what? They’ve got all the good kids bibles, or have grown out of them. They’ve read (or aren’t interested in) biographies for their age group. They’ve exhausted the kids fiction section (or the ones you think are ok), dabbled in some church history, and tried some apologetics. What next?

This new offering by Champ Thornton, may just be what you are looking for. The Really Radical Book for Kids: More Truth, More Fun doesn’t fit any clear category – and as such, it hits a whole lot of them. Overall subject themes include:

• exploring parts of the bible (e.g., Proverbs & Romans)
• historical people of faith. (e.g., Eric Liddell, Hannah More) 
• faith questions (e.g., How does prayer work? Why go to church?)
• living faithfully (e.g., speech, how to become a Christian)
• life skills & info (e.g., how to deal with parents)
• fun jokes & silly stuff (e.g., how to make a secret code)

Thornton presents biblical material and matters of faith in a fun, different and digestible way for kids. The approach is based around topics and questions. It will be great for for children who know their bibles well, but may not have linked it together thematically; and it will also appeal to those who want more facts and details about the bible accounts, enabling further explanation and a different angle of understanding. 

The 41 chapters are all mixed up, keeping readers interested as to what might come next. It’s marketed at children aged 8-14, and I think many will enjoy it and return to re-read sections. The colourful illustrations, diagrams, maps and charts are engaging and assist the reader in their understanding. It’s also beautifully produced, with highly quality printing and a great embossed cover. Kids will be drawn in with language that is appropriate to their lives, but doesn’t dumb things down. The challenges of life are recognised. The questions that we all ask are openly acknowledged. Simplistic answers aren’t given, but the reader is given the truth from the words of God. 

Add The Really Radical Books for Kids to your gift list and the kids in your life will learn a lot about the bible, find explanations for questions they didn’t know they had, and they'll surprise you with some fun facts along the way too.

I was given an ecopy of this book in exchange for an honest review.