Book Review: Great Kings of the Bible by Deepak Reju

What a nice book. It follows the lives of Saul, David, and Solomon and points out their strengths but really pointed out their failures as both men and kings. The great part of the book is that it uses this opportunity to explicitly point to Jesus Christ. David failed, but Jesus never did. It points us to the true King of Kings.

The illustrations were wonderful and very lifelike. I appreciated that there were no pictures of Jesus in the book, instead pictures of scenes from the gospels (the stormy sea, the empty tomb). I put the book to the test after I read it; I took it to my Sunday School class (ages 7-10). The verdict? They loved it. When I was finished they asked if I could read it again next week for our lesson. It opened up some very interesting discussions.

I don’t own many children’s books because good books like this are few and far between. Finding a book that is theologically sound and that doesn’t turn the men and women in the Bible into cartoon characters is difficult. This book is sound in both areas. No false gospel, and a true representation of the people in the story. By telling the Bible account,  you see the men, warts and all. That being said, the only concern I would point you to is the account of David and Bathsheba. It is faithful to the text, so keep that in mind for younger children.

Thanks to Cross Focused Media for the review copy