Wonderful Genesis 1 for kids

Following on from the previous post. Here’s a page from the Children’s book ‘Wonderful Earth’. It’s an illustrated book for young children, and none of the other pages has anywhere near as many words as this one. I always need to take a big breath when I read this page to the kids – and I read it fast to add to that sense of wonderful abundance and creativity. The next page slows down and provides a delightful contrast. Here it is:

“God made humming birds as small as bees and whales as big as buses, chameleons that can change to any colour, sloths that grow moss on their back, parrots that can talk and swifts that sleep while they are flying, moths that look like leaves and insects that look like sticks, skunks that smell disgusting (except to other skunks), squirrels that fly, bees that dance, worms that eat mud and goats that eat anything, dolphins that smile, crocodiles that grin and hyenas that laugh, butterflyfish and parrotfish and lionfish and batfish and catfish and dogfish and hogfish, hairy caterpillars and bald eagles, beavers that build dams and moles that dig tunnels, kangaroos that carry their babies in pouches and pelicans with beaks like shopping bags, sharks with teeth like razors, beetles  with antlers, gorillas as strong as ten men, jumping fleas and jumping spiders, toads that blow themselves up like balloons, electric eels and beetles that glow in the dark, bears that sleep all winter long, termites that make tall houses tough as concrete, salmon that can swim up waterfalls, lizards like dragons, elephants with noses like hoses and squids that squirt ink. He made animals that sing and squawk and spout and hiss and hoot and howl and honk and chirp and peck and pounce and flap and fly and slide and slither and squirm and creep and crawl and prowl and growl and gallop and glide and dive and swoop and jump and hang and warble and squeak and roar…and he made the duck-billed platypus too!”

Wonderful Earth, by Nick Butterworth and Mick Inkpen.

If you have want a great book to share the Creation story of Genesis 1 with kids…then I recommend this book.