The Awesome Super Fantastic Forever Party | Joni Eareckson Tada
This awesome book is my five year old neighbour Izzy’s favourite book. We sat down and read it again together so that we could share our thoughts on why we think this book is super fantastic:
1.The pictures are really stunning. I love all the illustrations in the Tales That Tell The Truth series, but both Izzy and I agree that Echeverri has outdone herself in this book. Echeverri conveys so much rich Biblical truth straight out of the book of Revelation with such vibrancy, that Izzy couldn't stop herself saying, “I like this page!” every time we flipped to a picture of the new heavens and earth. What’s so clever is that the pictures depicting this world are drawn in more muted colours, which makes the brilliant colours of the new creation leap off the page in contrast. You can’t help but see that what we hope for as Christians is joyful and so, so much better than the world we know.
2.It leads you to be excited about Jesus most of all. Eareckson Tada has thoughtfully ordered the book so that the blessings of the new creation build on top of one another, heaping excitement upon anticipation upon wonder and as she says, she hasn’t “even got to the best thing about the place we’re invited to” yet! She draws you in to see that Jesus is the best thing about the new creation, helpfully reconfiguring our greatest hopes to be around him and not only the blessings he brings. As Izzy told me before we even started reading, the best bit of this book is the end; “it’s exciting!”
3.It prompts you to respond to the gospel invitation. Because the whole book is pitched around Jesus inviting us to the new creation, it effectively points out that our kids need to respond to the gospel. After all, that’s the nature of an invitation; you either accept it or you turn it down, whether actively or passively. This led Izzy and I to have a great chat about whether we’ve accepted Jesus’ invitation, how we accept it and then how we can share this awesome invitation with others too. The parents page at the end is designed to help you have this sort of extending conversation and includes bits of the Bible you could read together.
All up, we reckon it’s a great book. “I just like the story and the pictures!”
Ps. There’s also a slimmed down board book version if your kids are more into looking at and chewing books than reading them yet. (Ages 1-3)
To coincide with our annual conference, EQUIP Picks are 10 great reads, chosen and reviewed by the EQUIP Women Team for women.
EQUIP24 Picks will be available for a limited time online via our ministry partner, Reformers Bookshop.
A percentage of the sales from books bought via the above link will support our CMS missionary, M.
Meet Lucy Wong
This year Lucy has helped write the manuscript discovery material for EQUIP. She and her Husband Os, along with their kids Fin & Ettie, serve at Georges Hall Anglican Church where she gets to share Jesus with their community... and make plenty of kids craft!