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Cases for Christianity for Kids
Case for a Creator for Kids
You meet skeptics every day. They ask questions like:
Are your science teachers wrong?
Did God create the universe?
Is the Big Bang theory true?
Here’s a book written in kid-friendly language that gives you all the answers.
Packed full of well-researched, reliable, and eye-opening investigations of some of the biggest questions, Case for a Creator for Kids uses up-to-date scientific research to strengthen your faith in God’s creation.
Are your science teachers wrong?
Did God create the universe?
Is the Big Bang theory true?
Here’s a book written in kid-friendly language that gives you all the answers.
Packed full of well-researched, reliable, and eye-opening investigations of some of the biggest questions, Case for a Creator for Kids uses up-to-date scientific research to strengthen your faith in God’s creation.
128 pages, Paperback
Published May 24, 2010
121 people are currently reading
287 people want to read
About the author
Lee Strobel
225 books1,764 followersLee Patrick Strobel is an American Christian author and a former investigative journalist. He has written several books, including four that received ECPA Christian Book Awards (1994, 1999, 2001, 2005)[2] and a series which addresses challenges to the veracity of Christianity. He also hosted a television program called Faith Under Fire on PAX TV and runs a video apologetics web site.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews
December 9, 2023
Popular author and speaker Lee Strobel is back with another junior version of one of his bestselling Cases for Christianity books. This time it's Case for a Creator for Kids, a basic overview of the science behind the creation versus evolution debate. Acknowledging in the book's opening salvo that a creationist worldview can put one at odds with teachers and peers educated in secular institutions, Lee Strobel suggests that individuals make their own independent, unbiased examination of the evidence supporting the polar opposite theories of creationism and evolution. This examination must be governed purely by logic if it's to be legitimate; whatever our preconceived ideas of the universe's origin, the only way to arrive at a sensible conclusion is to set those ideas aside and focus on facts. Absolute certainty of anything is impossible, but investigation into spiritual matters can provide more reliable results than one might expect if it's carried out fairly.
Strobel begins by presenting a hypothetical mystery: you awaken one morning to find there's an elephant on your roof. You have no idea how it came to be there, and the situation seems absurd, almost impossible. Yet you can't deny this extraordinary thing has happened. If you investigate how the elephant got up there, you have choices of where to begin sleuthing. Is there physical evidence? Any eyewitnesses? A careful search for information should help you formulate a theory, as it will when you're trying to figure out the origin of the universe. But you must be willing to accept the evidence, no matter what conclusion it supports. "Any good scientist will tell you there is one important rule: follow the evidence wherever it leads you. For example, you might find trustworthy evidence that purple-polka-dotted aliens placed the elephant on the roof. That might be the best evidence you have. If so, your best guess would be that purple-polka-dotted aliens put an elephant on your roof—even if it sounds ridiculous, and even if people would laugh! Good science is objective—that means it looks only at the evidence, even if the evidence points to something we don't want to believe." With that unyielding standard as our guide, we step into the labyrinth of trying to understand how we and our universe came to exist.
There's good evidence for some kind of cosmic Big Bang, but that doesn't mean God didn't orchestrate it, Case for a Creator for Kids points out. Scientific descriptions of what the Big Bang would have been like line up well with the biblical creation account in Genesis. With this in mind, we're presented the ancient Kalam Argument, which states that if everything that has a beginning has a cause, and if the universe has a beginning, then the universe must have a cause. The next chapter fleshes this out, showing why the universe logically had to have a beginning. A brief side article is added to elucidate how God could exist eternally if the Kalam Argument proves that everything has an origin. The explanation is succinct and sound.
If the universe had a beginning, what about intelligent life within it? Is a creator necessary for humans to exist, or does evolutionary theory remove God from the equation? Case for a Creator for Kids presents another detailed hypothetical situation to demonstrate the irrationality of assuming that complex design could pop up without an intelligent source. The anthropic principle—the fine-tuning of our universe to the exact specifications required for human life—is compelling evidence of a God who designed our habitat to accommodate our frail bodies. Yet even stronger proof of intelligent design is the cosmological constant, which states that the energy density of empty space has to be set at an absolutely precise level, or the universe as we know it couldn't exist. Change the cosmological constant slightly one way, and stars and planets couldn't have formed. Change it the other, and the universe would have collapsed on itself. The closer one looks at the anthropic principle and cosmological constant, the clearer the picture emerges of a universe created by an all-powerful, eternal designer. Scientists who adhere to the rule of objectivity agree, whether or not they're personally comfortable believing in God.
We move on to the argument of irreducible complexity, which Lee Strobel uses to further bolster the case for an intelligent creator. Just as a rudimentary wooden mousetrap won't work with any piece of its apparatus missing, there are lifeforms that could not have evolved into what they are today with any component of their completed biology not in place. Their irreducible composition proves they could not have evolved as postulated by Darwinists. Michael Behe, a respected biochemist, is interviewed in this section of Case for a Creator for Kids, and he concludes that the argument from irreducible complexity is a gamechanger. "I believe...that irreducibly complex systems are strong evidence of a purposeful, intentional design by an intelligent agent. No other theory succeeds." The staggering complexity of the human genome also points to intelligent design, which makes humans worth immeasurably more than if we were an accident of evolution. As Case for a Creator for Kids puts it, "Human beings can build airplanes, but they can't build a human being like you." According to the intelligent design espoused by the Christian faith, even the least noteworthy human who ever lived is endlessly valuable, and the implications of that are awesome. The more we scrutinize our genetic code, the more we marvel at human complexity and variety, and the stronger the case is that we're the handiwork of an infinitely more amazing God. Atheistic theories of random chance can't hold up under the overwhelming evidence of our own bodies, evidence that grows more sophisticated and persuasive along with our ability to comprehend it.
What does it mean for our lives when we study the facts and decide a creator God must exist? Finding out more about that God is a reasonable next step, and Lee Strobel has other books that continue the investigation into discerning the nature of God. When an esteemed surgeon and hardened unbeliever named Viggo Olsen and his wife followed the road of sincere skepticism all the way to becoming Christians, they found fulfillment beyond what they thought possible. Among other things, "They looked at the ability of people to love and to have compassion and concluded that we must have been created by someone with those same qualities." God's goodness is reflected in his creation, in people who love and sacrifice for us because that's the example set by an eternally compassionate God. If you care to know that God, Case for a Creator for Kids is a first step that leads to so much more.
This book has a great sense of humor. One of my favorite parts is a side panel about the classic Calvin and Hobbes comic strip. It discusses the episode where Calvin says the term "Big Bang" should be replaced by something flashier, like "Horrendous Space Kablooie". Some real-life scientists actually took Calvin's advice and implemented his term! The arguments used in Case for a Creator for Kids are mostly sound, though as basic as can be. This book isn't as insightful or comprehensive as Case for Faith for Kids, but that's okay; smart, fact-based creationist literature for children needed a contribution like this, and Lee Strobel is one of the top names in Christian apologetics for readers of any age. I'd rate Case for a Creator for Kids two and a half stars, and I'm on the fence about rounding up or down. If you'd like to arm your kids with pertinent rebuttals to evolutionary theory that are simple enough to memorize, this is an excellent place to start. You'll find there's a stronger foundation for biblical belief than you might have realized.
Strobel begins by presenting a hypothetical mystery: you awaken one morning to find there's an elephant on your roof. You have no idea how it came to be there, and the situation seems absurd, almost impossible. Yet you can't deny this extraordinary thing has happened. If you investigate how the elephant got up there, you have choices of where to begin sleuthing. Is there physical evidence? Any eyewitnesses? A careful search for information should help you formulate a theory, as it will when you're trying to figure out the origin of the universe. But you must be willing to accept the evidence, no matter what conclusion it supports. "Any good scientist will tell you there is one important rule: follow the evidence wherever it leads you. For example, you might find trustworthy evidence that purple-polka-dotted aliens placed the elephant on the roof. That might be the best evidence you have. If so, your best guess would be that purple-polka-dotted aliens put an elephant on your roof—even if it sounds ridiculous, and even if people would laugh! Good science is objective—that means it looks only at the evidence, even if the evidence points to something we don't want to believe." With that unyielding standard as our guide, we step into the labyrinth of trying to understand how we and our universe came to exist.
There's good evidence for some kind of cosmic Big Bang, but that doesn't mean God didn't orchestrate it, Case for a Creator for Kids points out. Scientific descriptions of what the Big Bang would have been like line up well with the biblical creation account in Genesis. With this in mind, we're presented the ancient Kalam Argument, which states that if everything that has a beginning has a cause, and if the universe has a beginning, then the universe must have a cause. The next chapter fleshes this out, showing why the universe logically had to have a beginning. A brief side article is added to elucidate how God could exist eternally if the Kalam Argument proves that everything has an origin. The explanation is succinct and sound.
If the universe had a beginning, what about intelligent life within it? Is a creator necessary for humans to exist, or does evolutionary theory remove God from the equation? Case for a Creator for Kids presents another detailed hypothetical situation to demonstrate the irrationality of assuming that complex design could pop up without an intelligent source. The anthropic principle—the fine-tuning of our universe to the exact specifications required for human life—is compelling evidence of a God who designed our habitat to accommodate our frail bodies. Yet even stronger proof of intelligent design is the cosmological constant, which states that the energy density of empty space has to be set at an absolutely precise level, or the universe as we know it couldn't exist. Change the cosmological constant slightly one way, and stars and planets couldn't have formed. Change it the other, and the universe would have collapsed on itself. The closer one looks at the anthropic principle and cosmological constant, the clearer the picture emerges of a universe created by an all-powerful, eternal designer. Scientists who adhere to the rule of objectivity agree, whether or not they're personally comfortable believing in God.
We move on to the argument of irreducible complexity, which Lee Strobel uses to further bolster the case for an intelligent creator. Just as a rudimentary wooden mousetrap won't work with any piece of its apparatus missing, there are lifeforms that could not have evolved into what they are today with any component of their completed biology not in place. Their irreducible composition proves they could not have evolved as postulated by Darwinists. Michael Behe, a respected biochemist, is interviewed in this section of Case for a Creator for Kids, and he concludes that the argument from irreducible complexity is a gamechanger. "I believe...that irreducibly complex systems are strong evidence of a purposeful, intentional design by an intelligent agent. No other theory succeeds." The staggering complexity of the human genome also points to intelligent design, which makes humans worth immeasurably more than if we were an accident of evolution. As Case for a Creator for Kids puts it, "Human beings can build airplanes, but they can't build a human being like you." According to the intelligent design espoused by the Christian faith, even the least noteworthy human who ever lived is endlessly valuable, and the implications of that are awesome. The more we scrutinize our genetic code, the more we marvel at human complexity and variety, and the stronger the case is that we're the handiwork of an infinitely more amazing God. Atheistic theories of random chance can't hold up under the overwhelming evidence of our own bodies, evidence that grows more sophisticated and persuasive along with our ability to comprehend it.
What does it mean for our lives when we study the facts and decide a creator God must exist? Finding out more about that God is a reasonable next step, and Lee Strobel has other books that continue the investigation into discerning the nature of God. When an esteemed surgeon and hardened unbeliever named Viggo Olsen and his wife followed the road of sincere skepticism all the way to becoming Christians, they found fulfillment beyond what they thought possible. Among other things, "They looked at the ability of people to love and to have compassion and concluded that we must have been created by someone with those same qualities." God's goodness is reflected in his creation, in people who love and sacrifice for us because that's the example set by an eternally compassionate God. If you care to know that God, Case for a Creator for Kids is a first step that leads to so much more.
This book has a great sense of humor. One of my favorite parts is a side panel about the classic Calvin and Hobbes comic strip. It discusses the episode where Calvin says the term "Big Bang" should be replaced by something flashier, like "Horrendous Space Kablooie". Some real-life scientists actually took Calvin's advice and implemented his term! The arguments used in Case for a Creator for Kids are mostly sound, though as basic as can be. This book isn't as insightful or comprehensive as Case for Faith for Kids, but that's okay; smart, fact-based creationist literature for children needed a contribution like this, and Lee Strobel is one of the top names in Christian apologetics for readers of any age. I'd rate Case for a Creator for Kids two and a half stars, and I'm on the fence about rounding up or down. If you'd like to arm your kids with pertinent rebuttals to evolutionary theory that are simple enough to memorize, this is an excellent place to start. You'll find there's a stronger foundation for biblical belief than you might have realized.
July 24, 2023
A brilliant book for kids and adults alike. Friendly language and compelling evidence for an intelligent, intentional creator.
November 10, 2015
Belief in a Creator of the universe does not require one’s brain to exit the room. In Case for a Creator for Kids, acclaimed author Lee Strobel (with Rob Suggs) shows how logic plays a vital role in the understanding of one’s faith in an Intelligent Designer. Written conversationally enough to read aloud to your family or perhaps your church’s youth group, Strobel and Suggs define and use the scientific process in evaluating current theories, comparing them to Scriptural explanations and laying out a case reminiscent of a court proceeding. Introducing the concepts of energy, vacuums, natural laws, irreducible complexity, biochemistry, genetics, infinity, odds, coincidences, and principles such as Anthropic Principle and the Kalam Argument, this study would be a wonderful boost to science class in homeschool settings, but is certainly an enjoyable refresher for any person of any age who wishes to put faith in a Creator to the test.
July 14, 2012
This is the child's version of Strobel's adult non-fiction, The Case for a Creator; it's not too long, has a few pictures and explains complicated vocabulary. We read this book outloud for devotional for a couple weeks and it provided great fodder for meaningful discussion on the subject. Strobel did a good job of explaining complicated ideas - somtimes it got a little convoluted for my little ones but overall, we dug it.
August 8, 2016
Something I would be willing to talk with my children about to make them really think before they make a decision to believe or refuse to believe something.
November 29, 2020
A great elementary level logical explanation for why we should believe the universe has a creator.
May 19, 2025
This is a good primer on creation apologetics, with perhaps a little too much effort spent trying to be cool and relatable (which ironically will age this faster). Strobel goes into four main arguments for why it's reasonable to infer a creator from what we actually know scientifically:
1) Scientific evidence points to the fact that the universe had a beginning, and all beginnings must have a cause
2) The finely tuned conditions for life on our planet have such astronomical odds of happening randomly
3) The law of irreducible complexity in our cells' micromachines
4) The information encoded into our DNA. Information comes from intelligence.
As you can see, I got it! And I'm notoriously bad at retaining apologetic arguments. So this is an effective presentation.
I also liked the short stories at the end about how apologetics might come up in real conversations. They did NOT depict skeptics bowing at the feet of the "right" children as all their pretensions were shattered, but rather showed a realistic conversation where one tiny claim might be questioned in the midst of the hustle of life. Refreshingly, they often showed the faith-based children feeling bewildered even while they advanced questions about their friends' confident arguments. I don't know how effective it was for my kids to hear as people who haven't been in these situations yet, but I know I sure appreciated it.
1) Scientific evidence points to the fact that the universe had a beginning, and all beginnings must have a cause
2) The finely tuned conditions for life on our planet have such astronomical odds of happening randomly
3) The law of irreducible complexity in our cells' micromachines
4) The information encoded into our DNA. Information comes from intelligence.
As you can see, I got it! And I'm notoriously bad at retaining apologetic arguments. So this is an effective presentation.
I also liked the short stories at the end about how apologetics might come up in real conversations. They did NOT depict skeptics bowing at the feet of the "right" children as all their pretensions were shattered, but rather showed a realistic conversation where one tiny claim might be questioned in the midst of the hustle of life. Refreshingly, they often showed the faith-based children feeling bewildered even while they advanced questions about their friends' confident arguments. I don't know how effective it was for my kids to hear as people who haven't been in these situations yet, but I know I sure appreciated it.
May 12, 2017
Would highly recommend for kids elementary and middle school age. My kids got so much from it.
June 4, 2020
Read 5 of these with my 12 year old. It opened a lot of discussion and challenged our thinking.
December 22, 2021
I appreciate that the book is for a younger audience but the tone really grated on me. Level F
May 15, 2025
Read a chapter a week with my sixth grader for school. It was kind of cheesy, but got the message across and had good lessons.
September 21, 2025
Good book on apologetics for Creationism, put into language that kids can grasp.
May 18, 2017
Very simple, but sound. A great starting point for teaching apologetics to kids. I've been overhearing conversations among my fourth graders in which they are readily accepting "facts" that they read and hear, without thoroughly and logically thinking through them. Case for a Creator and other books in this series (The Case for Christ for Kids, The Case for Grace for Kids, The Case for Faith for Kids) are a great springboard into reasoning for the young mind.
Teaching: BWI science unit
Teaching: BWI science unit
December 6, 2017
I bought this book for my children, and decided to read it first. I have to say that the author did an excellent job of explaining the topic in such a way that it can be understood by children. It is an excellent book to get you thinking and understanding basic arguments around creation vs big bang and God vs no God. It relates experiences of different kids to the relevant arguments. I enjoyed reading this book and plan to have my kids read it too. I think everyone should read this book weather you believe in a Creator or not.
August 12, 2022
I've enjoyed the adult versions of the Case for Christianity series and was glad that there were youth versions of the book. I read this because my kids will be reading them soon. I had meant for them to read them earlier and wished we had. They are definitely meant for younger ones, like late elementary school. The book does have great examples and takes very big ideas to make them more accessible for young minds. It also offers ways to share your faith and knowledge with others.
January 13, 2025
I read this with my kids. I loved the adult version of this so I was really excited to share with the kids. However, it opened the door to big conversations without a lot of explanation or depth. Almost too expansive and too short. But we had some good discussions that strengthened our position on the case for a creator. We enjoyed the examples from kids on how they defended their position on god as creator.
November 18, 2014
While this book serves a noble purpose and teaches children about the evidence for a Creator, it is poorly written and addresses children in a way that feels so simple that it is actually annoyingly unintelligent. While I want my children to learn the information in this book, I believe that most children are above this level of understanding.
September 25, 2014
I had high hopes for this book, but we found it theologically inaccurate in many ways, and at other times, just downright pointlessly confusing. The explanations of scientific theory (all scientists are evil God-haters!) and eternity ("timelessness") serve only to confuse a confusing issue further.
October 2, 2014
This was a very interesting book. It was about this kid who asks a question in science class and then his teacher explains the answer throughout the whole book. I thought that this was a good book. It was certainly not the best book that I have ever read but it was still a good book. I recommend this book for people who are not quite sure about history.
October 1, 2015
This world we live in—where did it come from? Most scientists and the media will tell you there was a Big Bang and then everything came from that explosion. Is there evidence otherwise?
Read my full review here.
March 4, 2019
These books are such a good resource to have in a home library. Highly recommend, not just for kids but adults! This one was the most technical of them all, with some of the science going over my 8 year old's head a bit...and mine too! But still very much worth the read. It sparks so many questions from the kids that get us all thinking. Good, good stuff!
May 14, 2015
I read the Case for Faith and Case for Christ. I really enjoyed this book because it tells you to not let your faith down or to not loose your faith in Christ. I would suggest this book for boys and girls together. It wasn't the best book in the world but I still really enjoyed reading this book.
May 14, 2017
I loved this book. I loved how this book gave many examples of why there is a creator. At the end of the book it gave some real life examples showing how there is a Creator and how we should speak of Him.
December 9, 2022
Good content, but I felt the stories at the end were weak, and could have linked better with the material. However having said that the content of the book covered some important topics about how can we know there is a Creator in a kid friendly way.
March 30, 2023
It was OK, but not great in terms of communicating these scientific concepts to a reasonable level for children. Also, their fictional allegories that teach spiritual truths were subpar and less interesting than the ones in Case for Christ. The content itself is helpful in teaching kids.
October 22, 2010
This is a great book that tells stories about why the earth is not billions of years old and other things like that. I highly recommend it.
November 30, 2010
A cool book for kids.
December 3, 2012
4.5 stars
January 4, 2015
Good for kids about 8-12 who are struggling with their faith. Clear answers, fun, friendly conversational way of writing.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews