Big Thoughts for Little People

by Kenneth N. Taylor, Kathryn E. Shoemaker (Illustrator)

This beautifully illustrated ABC book designed to teach Christian values will win the hearts of children and parents alike! Illustrations by Kathryn Shoemaker. (Ages 2 to 6)

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Christian, Nonfiction, Spirituality, Kids, Religion

50 pages, Hardcover

First published January 15, 1983

About the author

Throughout his publishing career, Dr. Kenneth Nathaniel Taylor's dream was for all peoples of the world to read and understand God's Word and experience its power at work in their lives. From his earliest children's books to his generous support of Christian ministry, this vision was (and still is) reflected in his work. Ken Taylor, founder of Tyndale House Publishers, died in June 2005 at the age of 88. Early in his publishing career in the 1950s as director of Moody Press, Dr. Taylor wrote several children's books. Born out of experience with his own ten children, "Stories for the Children's Hour," "The Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes," and others are now being enjoyed by a third generation of children. "My First Bible in Pictures" was included in "Publishers Weekly"'s list of "All-Time Best-Selling Children's Books" in 2001. His love for children (including his 28 grandchildren and 35 great-grandchildren) continues to inspire new titles. In fact, it was his children, in their confusion over the meaning of the King James Version, who prompted his mission to make the Bible understandable for everyone. Dr. Taylor's "Living Letters," a thought-for-thought translation of the New Testament Epistles, was published by the newly formed Tyndale House Publishers in 1962. The complete "Living Bible" followed in 1971 and has now sold over 40 million copies in its many editions. In 1996 Tyndale House introduced the "Holy Bible," New Living Translation. In keeping with Dr. Taylor's vision of Scriptures that everyone can read, the New Living Translation is a thought-for-thought translation that is exegetically accurate and idiomatically authoritative. Ninety of today's leading Bible scholars worked with Tyndale House to develop this easy-to-understand translation. Tyndale has become one of the top evangelical publishers in America and today publishes books, several Bible lines, periodicals, and videos. During the past 40 years, Tyndale House has distributed over 100 million Bibles, New Testaments, and Bible portions worldwide. Dr. Taylor used the success of "The Living Bible" to further his mission by distributing all its royalties to Christian ministries worldwide. He founded Living Bibles International (which merged in 1992 with the International Bible Society) for translating, publishing, and distributing modern-language versions of the Bible around the world. His life of service has been recognized with at least 30 honors and awards from different organizations, including four honorary doctorates. In October 2000, Dr. and Mrs. (Margaret) Taylor were awarded the Distinguished Service to Family Award by Wheaton College. A graduate of Wheaton College, with graduate studies at Dallas Theological Seminary and Northern Baptist Theological Seminary, Dr. Taylor held 15 directorships with Christian organizations at home and abroad.

Reviews

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the verses. They were applicable to young children and character issues. I tried to emphasize that we need Jesus to save us and help us live out what God calls us to do. I also try to emphasize that being “good” won’t save us. This book is about teaching children how to be “good” but we need to remember to teach them the gospel.

[Lexi Blossom · Rating 1 out of 5]

I got this to read with my daughter as part of her preschool curriculum (it's an optional book you can use with the Gentle and Classical Preschool. The curriculum is great BTW). I really wanted to love this book, but couldn't. It is extremely moralistic rather than gospel based. If you want a laundry list of "do this and don't do that", and that's how you train your children in the Christian faith, then I suppose this book is perfect. But if you want to teach them right from wrong, then teach them who to turn to when they inevitably sin, and offer them HOPE in Christ, then this is not the book. Looking back on 25+ years as a Christian, much of my works-based mentality (which I didn't realize as such until recently) came from well-meaning materials such as this. The introduction of this book says it all "Its (this book's) value is in teaching children about Christian living- that is how to be good!"
That line made my shiver.
By God's grace I will teach my child about "good behavior" (or the law, God's standard of perfection) but it will always be coupled with a heavy dose of grace and pointing them to the only good person who ever lived, Jesus.

[booklady · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked this better than my children did and I was never that crazy about it. The text is too long for the very young and by the time my children were older, it was too juvenile--well at least for us.

[Aleia · Rating 1 out of 5]

"Being polite shows respect. That means you think the other person is as good as you, or even better."

The quotation above should give you an idea of what to expect from this book. I was excited to read this to my 4-year-old daughter, but stopped on only the second page because of some questionable lessons. I'm so happy that I didn't finish reading it to her, because I flipped through the rest of the book and realized just how terrible and dangerous the lessons are.

I will include exact quotations from the book, so you can understand why I dislike it (along with an explanation).

This book teaches that kid's are responsible for the happiness of the people around them. It teaches that you should always do good things, behave well, and obey because (1): it makes everyone happy, and (2): if you don't obey or be good, you'll be punished for it.
Wow. Those are terrible reasons to teach good behavior. Shouldn't we be teaching that we do good because it's the right thing to do? Or explain the harm of doing bad, and the benefit of doing good? Even very young children are capable of having these sorts of conversations, and it will actually encourage critical thought, discernment, a good decision making. But telling kids to "be good so everyone else can be happy" sounds an awful lot like raising a people-pleaser, NOT a decent person who makes good decisions because they genuinely care. Here are just some of the examples of this:

"When you are nice, everyone is happy. When you do something naughty, everyone is sad."

"O is for obey. When you do as your told, it makes parents glad and they won't punish or scold."

"If you are punished... after they have punished you, your parents will give you a big hug... then everyone will be happy."

"Who is happy when you obey?" [Question to ask your children]

"Being polite makes other people feel happy."

"If you don't get enough rest you will probably be unhappy. Then everyone else will be unhappy too."

STOP blaming children for the emotional state of others! We are all responsible for our own emotions, not coddling other people's emotions. Teach kids to do good because it's right, NOT because they want to seek the approval and happiness or the people around them.

Another note that's related to this, there is just a massive emphasis on happiness in this book. There are a half-dozen lines, like:

"We will be happiest if we obey our parents."

"One good thing about sharing is that an unselfish person is happier than a selfish person."

Making good decisions is not about gaining happiness or who will be the most happy because of it. It's about doing the right thing, and sometimes it's not always the "happiest" decision (for us, or even other people) but it may be necessary.

Another observation is that this book teaches that "behaving" means you are never allowed to argue and must always be happy (again with the happiness— ugh!):

"B is for behave. It means doing what is right. Be happy and helpful. Do not argue or fight."

Why is happiness being equated with good behavior again? Kids can behave well and still have real human emotions; they are not required to be happy all the time. Putting this much emphasis on constantly striving for happiness will not create a genuinely happy person, it will create a person that seems happy 24/7 but truly hides negative emotions from you because it's not safe to express them. Not what I want for my kids.
And why is arguing bad, again? There is a time and place to argue appropriately. We should argue or disagree if someone is doing something wrong, or if we need to stand up for ourselves. The example this book gives, is that two girls are being bad because they're arguing over an icecream cone...

"Look at the girls fighting over an icecream cone... it's going to fall to the ground... but the puppies know better... they are sharing".

It's ridiculous to teach a kid that arguing is "bad". Wouldn't it be more fruitfull to discuss when it's appropriate to argue and when it's not? Or how to argue civilly when it's necessary? Again, young kids are more than capable of thinking through these things. It is unrealistic and even dangerous to teach kids to just be agreeable and never argue because it's "bad behavior".

If you want your child to be an agreeable people-pleaser that's unable to voice their own feelings and just complies with everything around them, this is the book for you. Otherwise, I think most sensible parents will realize that this book teaches irresponsible lessons and should be avoided.

[Margaret Chind · Rating 4 out of 5]

Prayers & Devotionals


When I was deciding options for schooling I knew that classical Christian education was at the top of my list from a time when I was a long-term substitute in a cottage/private Classical Christian School. Yes I love the classics, but the best part is being able to include and combine Christian education into all the rest. It is a part of our lives and definitely something we want to teach our children in their school and education. So of course, the next thing I want to tell you about is the Prayers & Devotionals. It is my understanding that Memoria Press is working on adding Bible stories to the curriculum as well, but as of yet for Junior Kindergarten that has not been added. There are however 26 verses, one for each letter of the alphabet to learn and possibly memorize with your child included in the lesson plan appendix.

Morning Prayer
Now before I run to play,
Let me not forget to pray
To God who kept me through the night
And wakes me with his morning light.

Help me, Lord, to love Thee more
Than I have ever loved before,
In my work and in my play,
Be Thou with me through the day.
Amen

Prayers for Children, illustrated by Eloise Wilkin, p. 2

Each day in the lesson plans it starts with a prayer and ends with a prayer as well. These prayers come from the Prayers for Children book illustrated by Eloise Wilkin. This is just a small Little Golden Book, but it is packed with beautifully illustrated prayers that are perfect for memorization. This is actually one of the things that first surprised me so much, because we were reading the Morning Prayer, day after day and then one day AppleBlossom was just there reciting it on her own. It was an amazing parenting experience, because I wasn’t even trying to make her memorize it or quote it, I was just reading it to her day after day and she got it and kept it to heart. From this it has merged over into other daily parts of our lives and she is interested in learning different meal prayers and a bedtime prayer.

The beautiful Prayers for Children book offers the classic prayers memorized by children for generations. The opening and closing prayers are memorized first and recited throughout the year. Additional prayers are introduced and memorized periodically. Prayer time should be an exercise in devotion, memorization and formal recitation daily.

Our enjoyment of Eloise Wilkin’s Prayers for Children has branched over into loving the Eloise Wilkin’s Stories Collection as well as A Child’s Garden of Verses , both also Little Golden Books (although the collection is a special high quality hardcover) which has “The Shadow” in it one of our poetry options for during the year. Another treasure for us was found in this artist because of the recommendation from Memoria Press in their curriculum.

In a typical school day following the opening prayer suggestion is the devotional. The devotion time is taken from a really great book, Big Thoughts for Little People: ABCs to Grow On by Kenneth N. Taylor.

Big Thoughts for Little People is a deceptively rich book offering Scripture, instructional moral adages, introductory phonics work, observation exercises, and ear training. be sure to read the preface by Kenneth Taylor in the front of the book to put it to its fullest use.

At first I was not sure what I would think about this one, because I have the Family-Time Bible in Pictures by this same author and I’m not overly impressed with it in comparison to others we have seen. However, I was greatly impressed with Big Thoughts for Little People. This is a wide book with colorful and fun illustrations with plenty to look at and discuss beyond just the text. Each page has a letter and a verse and little devotional lesson to go with that letter. For instance, “A is for asking. We ask when we pray. God is happy to answer. And help us each day.” And this is followed by a lesson and verse and then about three discussion questions that brings focus to what the meaning is as well as the illustrations. A fun detail about this book is the ladybugs that you will find on every page. Once AppleBlossom caught on to this she absolutely delights in picking them out.

In the lesson plans, most weeks are one letter on both days. However on review days, there are a handful to go back through and visit again. Personally in our family, this is a book we visit often even outside of school time or relevance. While we do not just sit down and read this book cover to cover, it is well loved here.



At the end of each day of lesson plans we close with another prayer, again from the Prayers for Children book. So far every day it is the same prayer, and such a good one to endorse.

I thank Thee, Lord for quiet rest,
And for Thy care of me;
O let me through this day be blest
And kept from harm by Thee.
--- Mary L. Duncan
Prayers for Children, illustrated by Eloise Wilkin, p. 3

Through these two books, my young preschooler daughter is getting a heart of prayer and a foundation of devotion time fairly regularly. She loves to memorize and recite prayers and this is such a precious time and set of memories for me that was helped to form and be created from the organization and recommendations of the Memoria Press Junior Kindergarten Curriculum. I doubt I would have discovered these gems without them. I purchased these for our own purposes, but I fully give credit to Memoria Press for the recommendation and pass it on.
Part I – Lesson Plans
Part II – Phonics 
Part III – Math
Part IV - Poetry
Part V - Prayer & Devotion

This post is scheduled: http://creativemadnessmama.com/blog/2...

[Anna Sangrey Roussel · Rating 4 out of 5]

A happy stumble: I discovered this book accidently while prepping for my preschool class. As a child, I knew this book well. The happy little ducks to find on many of the pages. And the hunt-and-search ladybugs! Too cute.

The concept is wonderful: character and virtue illustrated by Bible verses in alphabetical order. The illustrations are darling. However, the additional "study questions" seem quite boring. Never was able to get into the book has a cohesive whole, either as a child or a teacher today. Wonder what I am missing...

However, if not for a daily read-aloud book, a high recommendation as a reference book! Perhaps to further illustrate the alphabet. And, for the illustrations. And, for the hunt-and-search animals. And, for the gentle reminders each little poem (by alphabetical letter) offer to children to grow up well.

[Sara Hollar · Rating 3 out of 5]

This simple, short book went through a letter of the alphabet per spread, along with questions and a Bible verse. We enjoyed this book well enough. The concepts are pretty good and overall my boys liked it and learned from it. The version I have, which I think is an older version, has a strange illustration style. There are children & bears all interacting in the pictures, but the illustrations are not very clear. It's hard to answer some of the questions because it's hard to see clearly what the illustrations are trying to portray. The concepts are good. The illustrations leave a lot to be desired. We like this ok, but probably wouldn't pick it up again. I might look into the updated version.

[Mrs.MakesReadingFun · Rating 3 out of 5]

Big Thoughts for Little People is a beautifully illustrated ABC book that introduces Christian character and virtues through Scripture. The concept is lovely, and Kathryn Shoemaker’s illustrations are truly charming. Young readers will enjoy searching for the hidden ducks and ladybugs scattered throughout the pages.

That said, this book did not quite work for my family as a consistent read-aloud. The text feels a bit long for very young children, yet by the time children are ready for more depth, the content may feel too juvenile. The added study questions also felt dry and did not enhance the experience for us. It may work as an addition to a Sunday School program/lesson, or for homeschool use.

[S Oliver · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely A to Z of christlike character traits, in picture book format for very young children (age 2-5) with relevant scriptures.
Would need a discussion with a brief age appropriate gospel message to say we do not make ourselves follow all these lovely traits in our own strength, but only by the grace of God through the Lord Jesus.

[Kandice · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book should come with a warning that "O" is for obey comes with an assumption that parents will use corporal punishment for disobedience. I agree with other 1-star reviewers that the book is very moralistic and not gospel-centered.

[Amber Hawke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Big Thoughts for Little People by Kenneth N. Tayloris short and sweet and perfectly designed for children with awesome pictures that are really cute and words children can read and understand.

[Hannah · Rating 1 out of 5]

I remember reading this as a kid, but it lacks a lot of biblical truth and is full of fluff.

[Betsy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very cute

[Amy · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book says to obey or you’ll be spanked. Tells children it is wrong to cry. Children shouldn’t be too loud when laughing and playing.

[Ammie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simple and quaint and perfect for bedtime reading with my 6 year old.

[Ruthee Newman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I asked Jesus into my heart while reading this book! It is a sweet way for little ones to lean good morals and their ABC’s at the same time <3

[E & E’s Mama · Rating 5 out of 5]

We haven’t finished this book but we read through almost half of it. Will read through the whole thing from Sept through June for E’s preschool homeschool curriculum

[Suzanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was a little bit disappointed with this book. It's a nice concept, looking at a word/theme for each letter of the alphabet, but I feel it could have been executed much better.

Having really enjoyed another book by the same author (Everything a Child Should Know About God) I was expecting good things. However, the problem with this one is that it's more focussed on teaching morals and good behaviour than on teaching and applying God's word. Each chapter includes a Bible verse, but often that's the only mention of God or the Bible on the page. This is a little frustrating, because in many cases there are obvious things that could be drawn from the Bible to reinforce what's being taught. As a result, I often felt the need while reading it to expand on what was written so that we could refocus on the Gospel and what the Bible has to say about the topic.

Having said all of that, there are several things I really liked about the book. The full-page illustrations are very appealing and full of detail - both my girls loved them and would happily pore over them and talk about them for ages. It's also a great book for including younger kids, because the language is simple and there are easy questions for them to engage with. Just a shame the content was lacking!

[Mandy J. Hoffman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really like this book!

If you read my reviews you know that I don't often begin with that statement. In fact my average rating is only a 3.34 and that is on books that I have deemed "worthy" of my reading time!

I wasn't sure what to expect when I sent for this book through Tyndale's Blogger Review program, but it has exceeded my expectations. Each spread starts with a letter of the alphabet and then a short Biblical concept follows along with a verse and some brief narration. The second page in the spread is a bright picture full of action for kids to enjoy looking at.

I like how this book can be well used with a variety of ages in a mixed group. I have a 6, 4, & 2 year old and each one can enjoy this book. My 6 year old gets most of it and my 2 year old grasps bits and pieces with my 4 year old falling in the middle of that.

Both Kenneth N. Taylor and Andrea Petrlik Huseinovic have used their talent and abilities to give us parents, and grandparents, a wonderful bed time, or anytime, book to use in the nurturing of our children in the Word of God.

The questions on each page my challenge not only your children, but your own heart as well.

Enjoy!

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the devotional book we use for my 17 month old. While he doesn't answer the questions, he finds the stories interesting enough to pay attention. We plan to use this again when we start Heart of Dakota in the Fall 2012 as our homeschool curriculum.

[Shannon · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nice pictures, nice rhymes but it’s so negative. Even the positive messages have a negative line or two in them. We don’t use a lot of negative language to our kids though so we talk about being generous rather than unselfish, we tell them to play together instead of saying don’t fight.

[Nancy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Each letter is represented by full page illustrations, a morality lesson, questions to answer and a short Bible verse.

[Rebekah Pringle Yamada · Rating 4 out of 5]

Newest edition with updated pictures is a wonderful kid-pleaser!

[Angelica · Rating 4 out of 5]

My 3 year old girls really liked the pictures.