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Tyndale House Publishers recently offered a number of review copies of I Love God’s Green Earth, a devotional book for children. I asked for a copy even though there’s no one in my house in the target age range, which I suspect to be 8-12. I’ve passed the book on to my 8.5-year-old great niece, and after that I’ll loan it to my church. I think it would make a great basis for Junior Church programs.

Kids are often eager to care for the earth and have propelled more than one family into greater awareness of recycling and energy consumption. Expect this book to ramp up their enthusiasm.

Each of the 180 devotionals covers two facing pages in the book and start off with a Scripture. There’s a paragraph or two of discussion on the Bible passage and the ‘green’ theme it suggests. Then there’s action steps kids can take as well as related jokes and fun facts.

In some cases the vocabulary seemed a little daunting for the younger end of the age spectrum, but I’m also guessing the book isn’t meant to be used without some adult guidance.

The book was cowritten by Michael and Caroline Carroll. Michael, an art teacher, and Caroline, a librarian, have a keen interest in science and nature. This shows in various science articles they’ve written as well as a wide range of other books for kids.

As always, the team at Tyndale did not ask me to write a ‘positive’ review in exchange for a free book, but merely to share my thoughts here and at Amazon. I’m happy to do so. I think families with kids in the target age range could get great benefit from going through the devotionals as a family. If I had young kids in the house I’d also be looking at some of the Carrolls’ other titles I found on Amazon. Very cool.