God's people : stories from the Old Testament

Format:

Book

Title:

God's people : stories from the Old Testament

Author:

McCaughrean, Geraldine.

ISBN:

9780689813665

Edition:

1st U.S. ed.

Publication Information:

New York : M.K. McElderry Books, 1997.

Physical Description:

120 pages : color illustrations ; 28 cm

Contents:

Genesis -- Paradise lost -- Cain and Abel -- Noah and the flood -- The tower of Babel -- Sarah's son -- Sodom and Gomorrah -- The sacrifice of Isaac -- Jacob and Esau -- Jacobs's ladder -- Jacob wrestles with God -- Joseph and his coat of many colors -- Moses in the bulrushes -- The burning bush -- "Let my people go" -- The parting of the Red Sea -- A golden calf for God -- Balaam's donkey -- Blowing down Jericho -- Gideon against the odds -- Samson and Delilah -- Ruth in a foreign land -- Samuel! Samuel! -- The theft of the Ark -- David and Goliath -- King David -- King Solomon the wise -- Elijah the prophet -- Daniel in the lion's den -- Esther speaks for her people -- Jonah and the great fish -- Returning home.

Summary:

Retells twenty-two stories from the Old Testament, including "Noah and the Flood," "Jacob's Ladder," "Samson and Delilah," and "Esther Speaks for Her People."

Subject(s):

Bible stories, English -- Old Testament.

Bible stories -- O.T.

Genre:

Bible stories.

Added Author:

Leplar, Anna

Holds:

Available:*

Library	Call Number	Status
Searching... Independence Public Library	J 221.9 MCCAUGHREAN	Searching... Unknown
Searching... McMinnville Public Library	221.9 McCaughrean	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

Retells twenty-two stories from the Old Testament, including "Noah and the Flood," "Jacob's Ladder," "Samson and Delilah," and "Esther Speaks for Her People."

Author Notes

Geraldine McCaughrean was born in Enfield, England on June 6, 1951. She was educated at Christ Church College, Canterbury. She has written more than 160 books and plays for children and adults.

Her writing career includes the retelling of such classics as One Thousand and One Arabian Nights, The Canterbury Tales, and The Bronze Cauldron: Myths and Legends of the World, which is a collection of stories from all over the world. She has received numerous awards including three Whitbread Children's Book Awards for A Little Lower Than the Angels, Gold Dust, and Not the End of the World. She also received the Guardian Prize and Carnegie Medal for A Pack of Lies, the Beefeater Children's Novel Award for Gold Dawn, the Michael L. Printz Award for The White Darkness, and the 2018 Carnegie Medal for children's and YA books for her middle-grade novel Where the World Ends.

(Bowker Author Biography)

Reviews (3)

School Library Journal Review

Gr 2-5This collection of 32 old standards is written with verve and creativity. The stories of Noah, Cain and Abel, the Tower of Babel, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, and others are abbreviated but never lose their main points. Dialogue heightens interest, and citations from the King James Version of the Bible are included. Unfortunately, Jesus is prefigured in the stories of Abraham and Isaac and Daniel, and at the book's conclusion, detracting from its authenticity as an adaptation of the Old Testament and limiting its usage. The rather whimsical, cartoon watercolor illustrations are attractively varied in size and shape to break up the text; but they do not measure up to the quality of the writing. They are too delicate and wispy, and lack humor or excitement.Patricia Pearl Dole, formerly at First Presbyterian School, Martinsville, VA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Horn Book Review

McCaughrean retells many of the best-known Old Testament stories with both an ear for poetic writing and a modern sensibility. For instance, she weaves the concept of evolution into the creation story, saying that God's seven days are very different from our notion of time. Biblical material is explained without straying too far from the original text. Numerous watercolor and ink illustrations are included. From HORN BOOK 1997, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Booklist Review

Gr. 4^-7, younger for reading aloud. McCaughrean uses the voice of a storyteller to recount the Old Testament's history of God and His people. In conversational though not informal style, she tells of Adam and Eve, following with most of the important biblical tales--from Noah's Ark through Isaiah's prophecies of a messiah. She remains true to the King James text but develops and fleshes it out, offering explanations and tying together themes. She also brings out feelings and emotions as she imagines them, as in the story of God's demanding Abraham to sacrifice Isaac: "He laid his Isaac, his only son, the miracle of his old age, on the stony altar." A few references to events in the New Testament will make this a less than ecumenical purchase for libraries serving Jewish and Islamic populations--among them, a reference as Daniel emerges from the lion's den: "There was to be another cave, sealed with a stone and full of Death, from which God released a man alive." But the book will still have wide appeal, with the lively text made even more enticing by numerous watercolor illustrations depicting the people and events with historical accuracy, creativity, and tenderness. A great choice for reading aloud and one that ensures that children understand references to Jacob's ladder, Samson's hair, David and Goliath, and many of the other stories from the Old Testament that permeate our culture. --Susan Dove Lempke