Monday, March 15, 2010

"The Flowering Cross" Review

The next book I reviewed for Thomas Nelson's blog review site, Book Sneeze, was "The Flowering Cross" by Beth Ryan. This is a children's book that is written to describe a modern-day version of how Easter, and Christ's resurrection still impacts people today. In the story, the main character is a six year old girl who befriends an elderly gentleman that is her neighbor. Most children are afraid of him, and even make fun of him. Every Easter, the gentleman lets her cut flowers from his garden to take to church with her. The church has an annual flowering cross ceremony that she and her family participate in. The year that takes place during the book, the gentleman decides that he will attend church with the girl and her family. What follows is a special story of love. The girl showing the gentleman Christ's love, Christ showing his love for the world by dying on the cross, and the elderly gentleman discovering Christ's love. Throughout the book, there are Faith Imprints that are meant to be guides for parents when they are reading the book to children. There are also directions at the book of the book on how to make a flowering cross. I thought this book was simple, yet meaningful. I think it is a good book for children of all ages. The illustrations are well done, and the format of the book is nice.