Customer Reviews

David and Goliath: Based on 1 Samuel 17:1-50 (Series Children of the Bible)

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In order to make comparisons of various editions easier, I'm combining multiple reviews here.

First, a general recap: David is sent by his father to bring back word of his brothers, who are fighting in the Israelite army. When he reaches them, the army is faced with the Philistines and at the front of that group is an enormous man named Goliath. Goliath makes an offer: If any one Israelite can beat him, the Philistines will be their slaves; if Goliath win, the Israelites will be the slaves of the Philistines. When no one else steps forward, David does, believing that he has God to protect him. David uses his slingshot to fire a small smooth, round stone at Goliath, resulting in the rather unexpected death of the giant.

ASIN B001ED183A (4 stars) - Made in China (so tired of writing that!). Author Darcy Weinbeck does a good job of fleshing out the basic story, keeping it interesting, while filling in the details that are missing from other versions. This version begins with God sending the prophet Samuel to anoint David and declare him the future King of Israel. David's brothers and King Saul attempt to dissuade David from taking on Goliath. David takes down Goliath after Goliath takes the first, missed, swing, as opposed to David making the one and only assault in the battle. The book ends with David becoming king.

Although this is listed on Amazon as just an audio book, it isn't. In fact, Amazon's image (which could change but it there as of April 12, 2011) shows a BOOK, which is marked "Read-Along Storybook." That book indicates, on the back, that the "audio book" is actually a PC-CD that includes songs, coloring pages and an interactive storybook. The CD without the book, or vice versa, is incomplete. The images, by an unnamed illustrator, are reminiscent of Hercules (Disney Gold Classic Collection), but far less colorful and bright. They're not bad, just not original and a little bland. Each page of the book has a "Turn Page" icon at the end of the text, which is just weird. Generally, the turn-the-page indicator is found in the audio only. Putting it on the pages, at the end of the text of that page, seems remarkably inane. Obviously, when you reach the end of the text, you turn the page!

ISBN 1884628133 David and Goliath (3 stars) - Printed in China (boo). Age range not stated. Biblical stories for little kids are, to my surprise, generally fun books. Of course, mostly Christian families will be interested in this one, but - as a non-believer - I've never had any trouble with my kid reading these stories. He knew they were not real, they didn't warp his brain and he's managed to become a normal adult with complex religious beliefs. All of which is to say that, if you're not Christian, your kid will survive reading this book.

This is, in a really weird way, a cute story that will make kids feel empowered because the little boy beat someone so much larger than he. Still, it does end with a death, which might freak out some parents. And there remains the biblical aspect to freak out other parents. In the final analysis, however, the book has one flaw that might universally annoy everyone. The cover says "fun with pull-tabs, flaps and pop-ups" part, I assume, is relevant to the entire series, not this particular book. There are no pull-tabs or pop-ups and there are two sort-of-flaps. Most pages fold out, revealing more text than first meets the eye, but because the fold outs are not all in the same direction, it's easy for a child to mis-guess the proper direction to pull and just like that, you've got a torn book. Talk about disappointing. Plus, the book is about 4 square inches, a great size for taking it along when you're out, but hardly spacious enough to offer much in the way of the suggested "fun."

Portable, yes. Nicely illustrated by Kay Widdowson, yes. The text? It's all right. Other than the dead guy, there's nothing here that will offend anyone, but there's also not much that will excite anyone, either. Average - and average isn't good enough when there are dozens of other tellings of this very same story.

- AnnaLovesBooks