Sports Day by Nicola Fairbairn and Ruth Hearson

The Rosie & Family series are unique from other children's books by providing biblical counsel in hard everyday situations

‘Joshua was very excited because today was their school sports day. “I’m the fastest runner in my class,” said Joshua smiling proudly.

“I’m rubbish at running,” said Rosie looking fed-up.’

Do you love running races like Joshua? Or do you worry about sports day like Rosie? However you feel about sports day, find out what God thinks about the things you are good at and discover what’s even more important to God than being good at something.

This new series of softback, illustrated books is ideal for two-to seven-year-olds. They cover real life events and show how the Bible can be used to point little-ones to their Heavenly Father in every situation. Through clear illustration and simple language that children will understand, these books share theological truths that will help children become familiar with the Bible and bring gospel help and biblical counsel to families.

Title

Sports Day
Author(s)

Nicola Fairbairn and Ruth Hearson
Series

Rosie and family
ISBN

9781912373734
Publisher

10Publishing
Topic

Emotions, Theology
Pages

24
Published

01/04/2019

Download a sample

Overall rating

4.5 based on 2 reviews

Sports Day

I hope there are more books to come, because the initial three are very promising. They look at three common experiences of small children: taking part in Sports Day, preparing to welcome a new sibling and having a bad dream. Each one is written simply, in language which appeals, with a really straightforward message of how what the Bible teaches us about God can help us when we’re feeling proud, nervous, left out or scared. The stories expand upon a problem encountered by Rosie or her brother. When things come to a head, either Mum or Dad are there to listen, provide reassurance, and point them to one or two helpful verses from the Bible. I love the simplicity of these books, and I don’t mean that in a patronising way. They don’t try to do too much and thus go over the head of the children they’re designed for. Each one has a very clear aim: a problem that kids will relate to, followed by a Bible passage which can be easily understood and applied. The Rosie books have a subtler function too: they can provide us parents with some examples of how to share God naturally with our kids, how we can base their understanding of the world on what God has revealed in the Bible, and what kind of language we can use. These stories appealed to my 4 year old boys, who loved the illustrations and could easily follow the clear storyline. Even my 7 year old, who realised she was probably a bit old for the target audience, admitted to enjoying them quite a lot! I would suggest that 2–5s would get the most from the Rosie books, but for an older child with a lower emotional age, I’m sure they would go down well too.

Lucy Rycroft

The world focuses so much on how people achieve, the goals that they set and how they work towards those goals. This isn’t necessarily bad, but it can put a lot of pressure on people. This little book looks at the story of a little girl who compares herself with her brother, who is a better runner. It teaches from 1 Samuel 16:7 how God doesn’t look at the outward appearance of a person but God looks at the heart. This book will help children think about how they shouldn’t look at themselves like the world does, but like God does.