Saturday, June 7, 2014

Zonderkidz Let's Go Explore Series

I received these books as a member of Zonderkidz ZBlogSquad in exchange for my review.  All opinions are my own, no other compensation has been received.

Zonderkidz Let's Go Explore:
Egypt
Israel
Galilee
Jerusalem
$6.99 each

All four of these books have similar features and I have linked them individually above.  For review purposes, I will focus on the Jerusalem book.

Let's Go Explore...what child does not LOVE to hear those words.  These books are filled, and I mean JAM PACKED filled with wonderful pictures, maps, drawings and information about such Biblical and historically significant places that most of us will never get to visit. Let me take you on a guided tour of Jerusalem.

As you open the book, you come to a map...showing where in the world Jerusalem is and a map of the city.  I have looked at MANY maps of this Holy City, but THIS is a wonderful map for all.  Nice and large with famous sites clearly marked.  The next 12 pages or so take you site by site through all the things you would want to see if in Jerusalem.  This is not the same as being there, for sure, but certainly a nice substitute. As you walk through the book, site by site, you get just a snippet of information.  Just enough for little ones, but that spark interest.  I love how there are comments that children might be able to relate to...such as, "Disneyland is a little bigger than present-day Jerusalem" and sharing about a stone that weighs "roughly the same as 12 humpback whales".  While it might be difficult to grasp the full immensity of that size, I think most children will understand, WOW, that is BIG!

After browsing through the places to go, you have the sights to see section.  Here you will see the Upper Room, The Garden of Gethsemane, the Garden Tomb, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and so much more.  As we continue on through the book, we get a feel for the culture within the city and the people who live there.  Did you know that 1/3 of all the people who move to Jerusalem are from the United States?  I sure didn't!  Besides getting a feel for who lives in Jerusalem now, you will learn a little bit about some people you need to know.
Our final stop in this books lets us take a peek at some curiosities.  The Dead Sea Scrolls, The Ark of the Covenant, Holy Relics (nails, crown of thorns, Shroud of Turin)and animals in the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo.  Fun things to look at over and over again.
I think it would have been fun to have a couple of recipes to try at home included in the book, but as it it VERY easy to find some online, it is not something that is missed much.
While I have only detailed ONE book, all of the books are similar in layout, equally jam packed with information and amazing pictures and just as interesting as this one.  As you are reading through the book, Scripture is sprinkled throughout the pages as relevant.  I LOVED THIS!  You may have been able to tell, but I HIGHLY recommend these books. We had a great time reading through these and the children looked through the pictures several times already.  I think you will enjoy them too!

1 comment:

Michele said...

These look great! I love it when you do reviews. I'd like to get some of these and I think my kids would really enjoy them. My older kids love reading things that have this "Style" with lots of photos, maps and "facts." We have a few kid almanacs that are sort of like this, but I love the biblical history here.
Blessings!
-Michelle