Customer Reviews

To Everything There Is a Season

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The first eight verses of the third chapter of Ecclesiastes constitute the text of this lovely picture book. This is a book to look at carefully, to think about, and to discuss. The biblical passage contains some challenging concepts, including hate and killing, but tackling the ideas with your children in this picture book format makes the teaching job easier.

The words are from the poetic King James Version of the Bible, and Jude Daly's scenes of life on a seaside farm in South Africa are gentle. For example, her illustration for "a time of war" is simply a field of crosses. It is part of a two-page spread and paired with the phrase "and a time of peace." The larger illustration features a wonderful, long rainbow that family members admire.

Although aimed at young children, all ages will enjoy thinking about this Bible passage and looking at the illustrations by this South African artist.

Below are the familiar words used in the book:

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.

I've purchased this book twice now for gifts for adults, so it isn't just for little ones. It's a simplistic book - full of beautiful color drawings, depicting life experiences that anyone, children and adults, could understand and relate to. I happen to love the passage from ecclesiastes to begin with, and this book just brings each line to life.

To Everything There Is a Season, illustrated by Jude Daly, uses the words of Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 as its text. The text is broken down into sentences, and partial sentences, throughout the book. Each section of text has its own illustration. Some pages contain a single illustration; some are divided into two separate ones. The words, "A time to love," are illustrated with a drawing of a family standing together in a doorway, with their arms around each other, the family dog beside them. A picture of a youngster losing hold of his kite string is used for "a time to weep." The full text of the Bible passage is given at the end of the book.

What I Like: I like the illustrations. Each picture is simply drawn and colored, yet filled with action and/or emotion.

What I Dislike: Nothing.

Overall Rating: Very good.

Age Appeal: Reading level for ages 4-8.

Christine M. Irvin - Christian Children's Book Review

To everything there is a season is a wondeful verse taken from the Bible... and while the book is presented well, some of the power of the words are lost. It was a nice book... but it did not carry the magic I had hoped it would.

Marcus