Customer Reviews

Breathtaking Birds (Marvels of Creation)

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A few weeks ago I received the book Breathtaking Birds (part of the Marvels of Creation series) from New Leaf Press. This book is the perfect size for children to hold and look at themselves. My daughter has carried it all around the house and flipped through it over and over again. I'm pretty sure she's taken it to bed with her as well. It's the gorgeous full color photographs of the birds that have captured her attention.

The book begins with an introduction and ends with a section on Intelligent Design. In between the reader learns about 30 different birds. Each bird has a two page spread. The left hand page is a full page photo of the bird. The right hand page contains several paragraphs of engaging text. Also included on the right hand page is a short "Fact Box".

I love this book! I love flipping through the pages and seeing the photos. There is just enough information in the text to satisfy my daughter and yet on the other hand it merely whets my appetite and inspires me to want to learn more about these amazing creatures. Though we've been just reading through the book for fun, I plan on using it as part of our science program while studying birds and flying creatures!

A couple of weeks ago I received a book in the mail called Marvels of Creation, Breathtaking Birds.

This is a beautiful, glossy, hardcover book written by Buddy and Kay Davis.

This book is different from your usual animal/nature book because it was created to glorify God as well as teach you about Gods creation...Birds.

The introduction is so amazing. It actually gives you Bible verses, and scientific evidence to refute evolution.

Your child will go into this book knowing that these birds are God's creations.

Your child will learn about 30 different birds such as the Arctic Tern, the Ruby-Throated Hummingbird, the Emperor Penguin, the Great Blue Heron, and many others.

Each description is one full page accompanied by a full page picture. The pictures are really nice.

There is a section in the back of the book called Intelligent Design which goes into the scientific details of how a bird is made, the different parts of a bird, the bird's circulatory system, etc.

This is a great book to have on your shelf to teach your children about birds.

It teaches your child that God created the birds, and it has the scientific details to make it very educational.

It would be great for a unit study.

I absolutely recommend this book.

I did some research and there are more books in this series! YAY! I will be collecting this series, and getting rid of some of my other nature books that do not acknowledge God as their creator.

I love this series!

So, if you are looking for a book/series that will teach your children about nature in a biblical way, this is the book/series for you.

Disclaimer: I received this book from New Leaf Publishing in return for an honest review. No other compensation has been given to me.

By Buddy and Kay Davis (Master Books, 2005)

God created numerous different types of birds, as He stated in the Bible, and learning more about these amazing creatures is pure enjoyment! This book flaps your educational level of birds as you soar through the pages, pecking at the knowledge, while chirping with delight and awe.

Containing thirty-one different types of beautiful birds, this book delves into great detail of the intrinsic design of their creation, such as where their native location is, weight, length, life span, special design feature, and additional fascinating information. The birds encompassed in this book entail: Artic Tern, Common Raven, Emperor Penguin, Great Blue Heron, Greater Flamingo, Laughing Kookaburra, and many more.

Bible verses are seeded throughout this book, which work to remind you that God created the birds and the significance that birds had in the Bible. The pictures in this book are mesmerizing and worthy of being torn out of the book, framed, and hung on the wall.

There is a section at the back of this book that discusses the overall design of birds with vivid illustrations of a bird skeleton and parts of a bird. Bound in a durable hardcover, this book would make an excellent educational tool for children and adults; this book would make a great gift too!

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free through New Leaf Publishing Group Inc. book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255vf: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

When I opened up this book, I noted first that this book was written with the help and assistance of the staff of Answers in Genesis, Ken Hamm's Ministry.

The first three pages of the book are the introduction. This introduction essentially mocks evolutionists and paleontologists. I did like some of what the authors wrote such as this thought:
"This book is different from most nature books in that it seeks to honor God as Creator and give all glory to Him...Even the world in its cursed state (because of the fall of Adam) can still show beauty, design, and purpose." p. 9
But, much of what they wrote in the introduction grieved me. When I wrote my review of What is God? by Apologia, I expressed this concern. When we paint what much of the world believes as stupid, we can do much harm to our children. Yes, they need to know that evolution is wrong, but not that it is stupid or ridiculous. The Bible does not call us to ridicule or scorn those who believe differently than we do. We are to speak with love to all and respect them because they are God's creation, too. I can only imagine if someone who wasn't a believer had read this introduction over my shoulder how they might have then reacted to me for reading it. I think the person reading over my shoulder would have assumed that I would then judge them if they didn't believe in God. I believe the intention of the authors was to alarm the reader and impress upon the reader how important it is what he or she believes about creation and evolution. But, the language pushed me away from their thinking rather than towards it.

The introduction aside, I liked the rest of the book. The font is small, but the pages of the book contain interesting information about the birds included. There are a few mentions of God and wonder of God's creation, but not as many as I would have expected. I would have actually liked to read more mentions of the Lord and marvel of his creation. The birds included are ones from all around the world. They are both common and unusual.

After reading the book, I realize that I need to dig into evolution and creation. I believe in creation and not evolution, but I am not in favor of disparaging the other side. I find that as people we feel that we must make the other side look bad in order to feel good about the side we're on. But, that's not true. I think we can build a logical, constructive case and contradict the case of our opponents respectfully and without being alarmist. When we disparage, criticize, and alarm many people stop listening.

Setting the introduction of the book aside, the rest of the book was nice. I enjoyed What's that Bird? What's That Bird?: Getting to Know the Birds Around You, Coast to Coast by Joseph Choineiere and Claire Mowbray Golding more. Though What's that Bird? is not a Christian book, I think that as parents we can talk to our children about the marvel of birds and what the Bible says about birds. God created them and we want our children to know that.

Please note that I received a complimentary copy of this book from New Leaf Publishing for review.

The Marvels of Creation book series is suggested for children 8-12, but with the non-fiction books, that's usually not a problem for my 5-year-old.

That being said, I'm guessing that the introduction was written for the adult, rather than the intended child audience. I'm not sure how many 8- (or even 12-)year-olds know what "postulated" or "indoctrinated" mean. And for this age group, I probably would have chosen a version of the Bible that's a little bit easier to comprehend than the King James Version. The point of Creationism is well argued, but the format is a bit wordy and seems to speak over the heads of the audience in a way.

But, that's just the intro, so let's move on.

The photos in this book are absolutely beautiful. And we learned a lot about several different types of birds that we had never heard before.

For instance, did you know that the Atlantic Puffin's beak is ONLY colorful during breeding season? During this time, the colors are red, yellow and blue striped with yellow in the corner of its mouth. After the breeding season is over, the colors are shed and the resulting beak is smaller and gray-colored!

Or that the Ruby-throated hummingbird often attacks birds much bigger than it - like eagles and crows? (fiesty little guys!).

We will occasionally see large flying birds around here....I would always guess that it was a hawk, but sometimes my husband corrects me by saying that its a turkey vulture. I had heard of vultures before, of course, but the turkey vulture was a new one for me.

Well, wouldn't you know that this book tells you about turkey vultures? Turns out that hawks and eagles fly with their wings out horizontally, while the turkey vulture soars with their wings in a "V" shape. Nice! Now we'll know what to look for the next time we're trying to characterize the birds!

Included in this book are several wonderful pages describing how our Creator designed these creatures for flight.

This book was a lot of fun to read, and the pictures are so vibrant!

I did receive a review copy of this from New Leaf Publishing Group, but the opinions here are my own.

Breathtaking Birds (Marvels of Creation)
With wonderful photos and descriptions of birds around the world. This book is a wonderful beginning to learn about the specific parts of the bird, evolution versus creation and different birds.

Our Experience: B and C were really excited to receive this book. As soon as this book came in the mail we had to open the package, go outside and begin reading. I decided that we would read about some of the birds first and then we would go to the Introduction and the section on intelligent design. B and C had a lot of fun taking turns picking which bird we would learn about. They couldn't get enough of learning about each kind of bird. Later on we sat down and read the other sections. B and C did not find the introduction with technicalities of evolution versus creationism very interesting, but they knew it was very important. We all enjoyed reading the section about how God designed the bird species.

What I Liked:

Birds were listed in alphabetical order.
The introduction was very important because it shows us how evolution doesn't work and how many scientists are turning from it.
The photos of each bird were very good.
The sidebar about each individual bird with included a "special design feature," "Did you know?" and scientific names.

What I Disliked:
Nothing! This book was wonderful.

What B (boy, age seven) Liked and Disliked: I liked this book. I like learning about birds and how God created them. My favorite bird is the cardinal. My favorite bird in this book was the cassowary. I like the casque (horny growth like a helmet), because it looks cool. If you want to learn more buy this book! I think this book is very good for kids my age.

What C (girl, age five) Liked and Disliked: I liked everything about this book. My favorite bird in this book was the bald eagle. The bald eagle is mostly black and it has a yellow beak and talons with a white head. I liked the Introduction and the section on intelligent design. This book is good for kids my age!

I would highly recommend this book! It should be in every library.

Disclaimer: I received this product for free for review purposes through New Leaf Publishing.

"And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good. And God blessed them saying, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let the fowl multiply in the earth. And the evening and the morning were the fifth day" Genesis 1:20-23



"This book is different from most nature books in that it seeks to honor God as Creator and give all glory to Him. As humans created in the image of God, we should notice and appreciate His work. Even the world in its cursed state (because of the fall of Adam) can still show beauty, design, and purpose. From the tiny intricate tail of the hummingbird to the beautiful fan of a peacock's tail, the artistry of the Creator is shown. We hope you enjoy this work and that you will be amazed at the marvelous design of birds and their God-given ability to survive in their environment. "For by him were all things created". Colossians 1:16"
Marvels of Creation: Breathtaking Birds is a wonderfully informative book with beautiful photographs of God's flying creatures written by Buddy Davis and his wife Kay.

Featuring 30 species of birds from the Arctic Tern to the Wood Duck, your child will learn the basics of each:

* Common Name
* Scientific Name
* Weight
* Length
* Life Span
* Special Design Feature
* "Did You Know" Feature

In addition, they will discover other fascinating facts, such as which bird:

- has monocular AND binocular vision
- is the largest of all aquatic birds
- is mentioned 11 times in the Bible
- can swim under water but is not a penguin
- wraps its' long tongue along the back of its' skull inserting it into its' right nostril when not in use (!)
- was kept during WWI to give warning of approaching airplanes that were too far away to be heard or seen by humans.

Also part of the book are sections on Intelligent Design which refute evolutionists claims that reptiles turned into birds. Focusing on Archaeopteryx and using scientific evidence, Davis makes these valid points of its' brain being like that of flying birds with a Visual Cortex and a large Cerebellum. The Wishbone (Furcula) was robust which is a design of a flying bird. There's also further refute of evolutionist claims that scales evolved into feathers.

At the end of this book there's a very useful basic anatomy section which has drawing of skeletons, types of bird feet and beaks with their purposes.

I read through this book with my 7th, 4th and 2nd graders. While my younger child loved the pictures, my older children liked learning about the Creationist proof of God's handiwork. I even learned a thing or two!

I whole heartedly recommend this book as a great addition to your Creation Science studies!

I received this book free of charge in exchange for an honest review.

We're partial to wild birds here at our home. We love reading about them. We love observing them. We love drawing them.

So I was so excited to be able to review Breathtaking Birds (Marvels of Creation), one of a series called Marvels of Creation by Buddy and Kay Davis.

We have many bird books gracing our bookshelves, but this is the first book that presents birds from a Biblical, creation-based perspective. The book starts out in its introduction by discussing and disputing the evolutionary viewpoint that birds evolved from reptiles. This is an interesting overview; there is nothing in depth or overly scientific here.

Then the book goes on to present 30 different birds of the world, dedicating two pages to each. Of the two pages, one page is a beautiful real-life color photo of the bird and the other page contains information about the bird.

On each informational page, there is a little text box that presents some quick, interesting info. I really like the "special design feature" and the "did you know?" fact that provides some cool, interesting info on each bird.

At the end of the book, the authors have included a short chapter titled "Intelligent Design." This chapter discusses the famous fossil of archaeopteryx which was uncovered in Berlin in 1877. It also discusses parts of a bird such as feathers, lungs, color, bones, beaks, and many more. On the very last pages, several sketches are included that present a labeled bird skeleton, types of bird fee, parts of birds, and types of bird beaks and their purposes.

We are really enjoying this book. This makes a great resource book to go along with the science curriculum that we have been using this year, Exploring Creation with Zoology 1: Flying Creatures of the 5th Day (Apologia Science Young Explorers).

I received this book from New Leaf Publishing Group in exchange for my honest review.

What a breathtakingly beautiful book! I have always been interested in watching birds, and have many "birdwatching" books, but the thing that really stood out for me with this one is the fact that it has a section in the back of the book that explains further about birds and their makeup. The chapter titled "Intelligent Design," really is packed full of information, it discusses feathers and how they work. I just always assumed that all birds had the same amount of feathers, but not so, the number of feathers on a bird depends on the kind of bird and the time of year it is. Along with discussing feathers this chapter touches on lungs,the circulatory system, bones, the brain, eyes, and ears. It also has a picture of a bird that is labeled to show the different parts of a bird. There is also a page that shows the different types of beaks and their purposes.

The main part of the book gives us beautiful bright pictures of birds. It gives information on thirty different types of birds, each bird is given two pages the first is a picture of the bird and the second page is interesting information about the bird, and on this page their is a little box that gives facts about the bird.

Thumbing through this book I found a few birds that frequent my backyard. I often get a visit from the Pileated Woodpecker, and if I am lucky I am able to draw the Ruby-throated Hummingbird in for a drink during the summer. This is one of those books that would be perfect for young and old alike. I can see it being very useful for homeschooling, or for a child needing to do a book report. While it features birds from world, there are a few birds that you just might discover living in your own backyard.

I was provided a complimentary copy of this book by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Marvels of Creation.. Breathtaking Birds truly is a breathtaking book by Buddy and Kay Davis. I love in the introduction to the book how it says "This book is different from most nature books in that it seeks to honor God as Creator and give all glory to Him." Several scripture verses are included in the introduction on the creation of the world and how God made the birds unique in their kind, not evolved from 'pond scum' as many nature books tend to discuss.
The book is arranged alphabetically for ease in locating a bird for a report or one you want to learn more about. A variety of birds from all over the globe are included, with bright, colorful photos and interesting facts.
Each bird has its typical statistics with the name origin, size, life span, and some special features. Interesting facts that showcase the nature of God in creating that specific bird are also included.
The last chapter in the book focuses on Intelligent Design and how the bird is perfectly made for flight with it's bone structure and feathers. It discusses all parts of the birds, eyes, bones, brain, systems and how none of these parts of a bird happened by chance, but by the Creator himself.
Great book for elementary age students to read to themselves and use for writing reports on birds, and great pictures for younger children to learn about the variety of species of birds that God created.

Master Books has provided me with a complimentary copy of this book for review