The Work of His Fingers

Wow, Banner of Truth have really gone for something different this time! 'The Work of His Fingers' is essentially a children's picture book with a rhyme 'in praise of creation'. The artwork is fascinating and the rhyme is surprisingly informative, even scientific. This is certainly not another vaguely inane children's poetry book with stupidly unrealistic pictures. I used it for the boys' bedtime story this evening and discovered that it led to all sorts of topics of conversation - the rotation of the earth, the ozone layer, the planets and universe. This did make me wonder what age group the book is really aimed at. Obviously at 4 and 2 yrs (and of course our 11 month old was listening in too) our boys found the science a bit mind-boggling, although rhyming books always go down well. The large booklet format (A4ish) would be good if this book was used to read to a group of children, but I think A5 would perhaps have been a better size for more personal reading. All in all though, I think it's a lovely book and will no doubt be reading it many more times yet.

The Work of His Fingers, by Alison Brown, £3.50

Lorna