Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Book Review: Amazing Adventures, Creative Connections and Daring Deeds

Amazing Adventures, Creative Connections and Daring Deeds by Tim and Alison Simpson has been sitting on my nightstand for a long time now.  I was sent this book to review by NavPress, and I have to admit, this one is a struggle.

The book consists of 40 short chapters, each representing an idea on ways for your family to experience Jesus.  The chapters each consist of:
  • a short intro
  • Reaching In, which is some sort of family activity/discussion
  • Reaching into the Word, which is exactly what it sounds like... getting into the Bible.  Most of these are broken up by age groups so you can do different types of discussions with different aged kids, from age 4 to teens.
  • Reaching Into the World, which challenges you to get out and DO something as a family.
I love the concept.  I love the idea of active family devotions.

I read the book's introduction and the first chapter almost immediately upon receiving the book, intending to do some prep work and start using this book as a family study.  I couldn't do it.  It's taken me a month to pull the book out again and start reading more chapters.  You can read this for yourself at the NavPress website.  

The result?  I'm not really sure HOW to review this.  I read another dozen or so chapters, and there are things I really, really like.  I think my family will (we have not yet!) use the first three sections of the chapters, and then instead of the Reaching Into the World ideas given, we'll brainstorm our own ideas.  Because I found most of the ideas given to be quite impractical for our family, and not necessarily the application I think my family needs.

Now that I have finally put my finger on what doesn't work for me, I do think we'll be able to make some great use of the book as a family. 

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from NavPress Publishers as part of their Blogger Review program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

2 comments:

Michelle Smith said...

Thanks for reviewing this one. I was very tempted to request it myself, yet I was (and am!) still working through another NavPress title right now. I intended to be done with it by now--yet as you know I have not had nearly enough free time this vacation to finish it!

It's good to hear about your insights on it and how you intend to make it work for your family.

NavPressGal said...

Thanks for letting people know about this book. Another one you should check out is Creative Family Prayer Times.