Books to transform young lives

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Friday, March 15th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Myrna Brown.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. Coming up next on The World and Everything in it: small books about the greatest story.

WORLD Magazine recently published its Children’s Book of the Year issue. It’s chock full of fun books for kids.

MACHOWSKI: I think when you're writing for children, you start with wanting to communicate biblical truth accurately. And then what I like to do with my books is add fictional stories around that truth that can draw the children's interest into learning about the truth.

EMILY WHITTEN: That’s author Marty Machowski. He writes books for families and children like Angels on Your Side. That book is about a young boy named Logan who sleeps over at his grandparents’ house for the first time. A terrible thunderstorm frightens Logan during the night, and he calls out for his grandpa. Kristin Chapman edits the children’s book page for WORLD Magazine, and she reads a passage from the book here.

CHAPMAN: But always remember, you don't have to be afraid. God's got his angels watching over you. Angels? They aren't real, are they? Logan asked. Of course they're real.

Grandpa tells Logan stories from the Old Testament about how God used angels to protect His people. Boys ages 6-10 may especially like the story because the 3D illustrations feel a bit like a superhero comic book. The angels look more like warriors than cherubs, and the book even includes two pairs of 3D glasses that make the pages really pop.

MACHOWSKI: So anything to get the kids interested, and in the book, I'm all for, because I know they're going to get a message that can transform their lives.

Machowski didn’t plan to become a children’s author. It all started when he wrote a Sunday school curriculum for his church in Glen Mills, Pennsylvania. Several weeks after Marty gave them the curriculum, the children’s ministry leaders at the church came to him with good news and bad news:

MACHOWSKI: Well, the good news is everybody loves this curriculum. I said, okay great. I said, what's the bad news? They said we just finished week number six. There's two more lessons left, so you better get started writing.

Machowski soon tried his hand at books like The Ology, a devotional for families. He’s also written more story-based books like The Treasure. To get in enough writing each day, he says he starts typing away at around 5:30 am. Waking up early isn’t the hardest part of the process. For Machowski, the real challenge is having his work edited. But it’s all worth it, knowing that God’s word is being hidden in the hearts of both children and parents.

MACHOWSKI: And so it's such a joy to provide resources for parents that contain the nuggets of truth and the gospel of truth that can remain resident within their children and sprout by the work of the spirit as God in his providence declares it to be so.

Kristin Chapman is one of those parents. In addition to being an editor for WORLD, she’s a mom of three teenagers. About twelve years ago, she discovered Marty Machowski’s devotional books called Long Story Short and Old Story New. She says that Machowski’s curriculum helped her establish some vital homeschooling habits.

CHAPMAN: You can really see he has a heart for the family. He has a heart for helping parents to create these rhythms and routines of family devotional time.

Chapman likes Machowski’s books, but she knows that some families might not like the transformer-like illustrations in Angels on Your Side. The book also implies that every Christian has his own guardian angel–which may or may not be the best interpretation of Matthew 18.

CHAPMAN: And I think that the book acts as a springboard from which families can then have those deeper conversations. Not everyone is going to perhaps agree with Marty's interpretation of all the Bible verses here, but again, this is an opportunity for families to discuss these topics of faith together and to study the scriptures.

Whether it’s with 3D glasses or fictional characters, Machowski keeps looking for new ways to help families explore the Scriptures. He says he’s almost finished with a children’s commentary on the book of Romans. It’s written from the perspective of a former Gladiator who was shipwrecked with Paul.

If you need a gift idea for the kids in your life this Easter, you might check out Marty Machowski’s work. His recent book The Treasure is a good place for many families to start. And then there’s Angels on Your Side, one of WORLD’s runners up for Picture Book of the Year. Machowski says he hopes that story and its illustrations help kids’ see angels as messengers of God’s strength.

MACHOWSKI: The illustrator, Rommel Ruiz, came back and said, you know, when I think of angels, I think of God's superheroes. What if we made them kind of like superheroes? And I said, yeah, that would be great. I think that would be the kind of image that I'm trying to convey, that these are God's mighty forces.

I’m Emily Whitten.

BROWN: Reviewer Bekah McCallum contributed to this review. And don’t forget, you can find more Easter gift book ideas at wng.org. Just go to the Children’s Books page, which we’ll link in our transcript.

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