10 of those

Are We Nearly There Yet?

"Are we nearly there yet?" is a short booklet style book, but with a strong card cover so its doesn't just feel like a throw away pamphlet as some books like this can. The front cover design is modern and eye catching, and because the title isn't really "in your face" Christian, I think it would work really well as a giveaway in non-Christian environments, such as schools. The story itself follows a narrative of a family in a car, and the familiar question of "Are we nearly there yet?". Whilst they are waiting to get to Granny's for Easter, their parents tell them the Easter story, and all the way through they see the disciples asking similar the question of "Are we nearly there yet? When will you be king?". The pages go through the familiar Easter sequences - palm Sunday, Garden of Gethsemane, the crucifixion and the stone rolled away at the tomb, but not just in a plain story telling way which the kids will be all too familiar with. The illustrations and use of speech bubbles throughout the book is very good and engaging for kids. I would probably say that this book would be useable for 2 years up to mid primary age (maybe 8) as it could be read to children, or they can read by themselves. At the end of the book, there are included some ideas for taking it further, discussion with the children and playing through the story too. These would be useful for parents, toddler group leaders or teachers if they wanted to include it in their pre-Easter activities. All in all, this a very well thought out book, and one that will work well as a giveaway instead of chocolate this Easter (who needs more chocolate!!).

Rachel Ridler