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More of Reformed Perspective!

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Most Recent
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Adult non-fiction, Book Reviews

The Political Consequences of Unbelief: a review of Groen van Prinsterer's "Unbelief and Revolution"
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Drama, Movie Reviews, Watch for free

A Vow to Cherish

Drama / Christian 1999 / 84 minutes RATING: 8/10 John and Ellen Brighton are a 50-something couple living a blessed life. They have two children,...
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Book Reviews, Children’s picture books

Don’t let the Pigeon drive the bus!

by Mo Willems 2003 / 40 pages Pigeon desperately wants to drive the bus. But the bus driver, who has to leave for a little while, tells readers befo...
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Family, Movie Reviews

The Jensen Project

Family 95 minutes / 2010 Rating: 8/10 Claire and Matt Thomspon seem like a couple of average parents, who, along with their 15-year-old son are e...
The Rest
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Music

Some thoughts on Christian music in worship

So there is some great music out there, and as Reformed Christians, we can rejoice in that fact. But if the issue of music in general can be a contentious one, the issue of the music we use in our worship services can be a cause for even more controversy. If we can acknowledge that there is Christian music from outside of our own tradition that brings glory to God, does this mean that we can or should use this music in our worship services? I’m a missionary in the Canadian Reformed Churches. In Prince George, B.C., where I am working to spread the gospel and plant a church, we meet every Sunday morning for worship. And our worship service is pretty much the same as the worship service you would experience in every other Canadian Reformed Church. We sing from our denomination's Book of Praise, and the songs we sing are primarily the Psalms. We’ve chosen to do this very deliberately, not because it is simply something that’s required of us. And we’ve made this decision for several reasons. Why Psalms? First of all, our focus on Psalm-singing is in line with the principles of the Protestant Reformation. During the time of the Reformation, the Reformers placed a heavy emphasis on the participation of the congregation in the worship service. No longer was participation to be limited to the priest, who alone could drink the wine of communion, and to the choir, which sang while the congregation listened. Now the entire congregation was invited to participate, both in the Lord’s Supper, and in the singing. It was a revolutionary step – no longer was the congregation an audience, or a group of spectators. Now they were integral to the worship service itself, and that participation was not only beneficial for the worshippers, it also glorified the God who was being worshipped. Participants no spectators So that’s the first important principle; the congregation should be more than mere spectators – they should be active participants. That means that “worship teams,” or “praise bands” do not have a place in our worship services. There are times and places for musical performances, for audiences to sit back and enjoy music performed by skilled artists. But our gathering for corporate worship is neither the appropriate time or place for such a performance. Our worship is corporate– we worship as a body, and we should all participate, not simply observe. Because of this principle, the Reformers developed songbooks to be used in worship. John Calvin promoted the development of a Psalter to be used in worship, and he encouraged skilled men to write music and set the words of the Psalms to that music, for congregational singing. That music had to be singable – it had to be suitable for singing in unison, and it couldn’t be so complex that it would take a trained choir to sing it. And so, what we now have as the Genevan Psalter was developed. This was truly a “people’s Psalter.” No longer was music reserved for the professionals; now musically unschooled laymen could sing together, and the Reformed Christians did just that, in the worship services, at home, and in public gatherings. A rooted tradition So our use of the Genevan melodies is not something that we do merely out of custom; there are some very important principles at play here. Our use of the Genevan melodies is a part of our tradition, but that tradition is not meaningless. We sing these melodies in unity with the catholic (universal) church – the church of all times, as well as of all places. By maintaining this tradition, we are expressing in our practice the reality that true catholicity isn’t just geographical, but that it’s also historical. And we avoid what some have called “the tyranny of the present.” By upholding what has become an ancient tradition, we avoid the pitfalls that can afflict the Church when she attempts to be culturally relevant (and all to often fails). We maintain that tradition in the face of changing tastes and trends; instead of being shaped by the trends of the world, we need to continue to work to shape those trends ourselves. Instead of giving in to the pressures of our culture, including the pressures that influence our understanding and enjoyment of music, we should continue to train ourselves, to develop excellence in the musical tradition that the Reformed church has been blessed with for centuries. We may find some of the tunes hard to sing, but this is most often because of their unfamiliarity, not because of any difficulty inherent to the tunes (which were accessible centuries ago to people who were all but illiterate). If we find the tunes challenging, we should practice them. We should train our ear to understand them, and in doing so, we will find that we grow to love them! This is true with all music that lies outside of the realm of “popular music” – in order to grow to love classical music, or great jazz, your taste has to develop, and mature. That takes time, patience, and learning. But the rewards are great; in refusing to limit ourselves to the simplistic world of pop music (which does have its place), we allow ourselves to grow. Maturity is what Christians seek – a life of growth and development. This should be as true for our musical tastes as it is in every other area of life. After all, as a boy I may have loved to read the Hardy Boys; but when I grew in understanding, I left them behind, and moved on to better things. The process of development in reading and comprehension is challenging, but it’s necessary. The same holds true for music. What about the words? So that’s the musical aspect of the songs we sing on Sundays. But what about the lyrics? This is where our Psalm-singing becomes so very important, especially when we compare the lyrics of the Psalms to those of popular Christian music. The words of the Psalms are deep; they’re profound; they’re God-centred; they express every aspect of the Christian life and experience. They aren’t just meant to make us feel good – they’re meant to challenge us, to encourage us, to admonish us. They express joy, happiness, confession of sins, expressions of anguish, and even despair. The lyrics of the Psalms are words that are sung in unity with believers everywhere, in unity with God’s people throughout history, and in unity with our Lord Jesus Christ. They relate to us in our own experiences, but they do much more; they keep us actively aware of our unity with the universal Church, our unity with our spiritual ancestors. We sing about the Exodus, about the crossing of the Red Sea, about the wandering in the wilderness, about the rebellion of the Israelites, about God’s forgiveness of that rebellion. We sing about God’s amazing work in creation, but also about His amazing work of redemption and salvation. And when we sing the Psalms, we sing the very words that our Lord Himself had on His lips during His life on earth – think of Psalm 22, for example. They may not have catchy choruses. It may take work to memorize them. They may force us to sing about places like Teman and Mt. Paran, and the Baca Valley, places that are very distant from us, historically and geographically. But they force us to realize that our generation is not the only generation that ever existed. They encourage us to see our true place, in the covenant community, as yet another generation that God has guided in the true faith. Once again, a true appreciation of the message of the Psalms takes training and education; but anything worth doing is going to take effort. And that effort will pay off in the end; singing the Psalms will lead us to develop an increased appreciation for our God, for His Word and works, for His justice and righteousness, for His wrath and anger against sin, as well as for His mercy and grace, which He has poured out upon His people. A lifetime's worth of praise Music is important, and our God, in His love for us, has given us music as a great blessing. The songs we sing, and the way that we sing them, and the songs that we listen to, shape our understanding of our God and our relationship with Him. If we insist on remaining like children in our appreciation and understanding of the music we use, we are deliberately limiting ourselves, and cutting ourselves off from a wonderful opportunity. God Himself has given us an opportunity to grow, to be enriched, to thrive as His people, by giving us the beauty and majesty of music. And in giving us, in His Spirit-inspired Word, 150 perfect songs, He has provided us with more than enough content for a lifetime’s worth of praise. An old saying tells us, “Familiarity breeds contempt.” We become so familiar with something that we no longer appreciate the beauty and importance of the thing that we’ve been given. I think that when it comes to the music we use in our corporate worship, this phrase is often very applicable. In each generation, we need to come to an appreciation of the precious heritage that we’ve been entrusted with – the heritage of a musical form and content that is rich, beautiful, upbuilding, and lasting. It may take work to develop a deep, lasting appreciation for that music; but in the end, every bit of that work will be worth it. So let’s not be afraid to put in the effort. And having done that, we can know that God will give us, as He has already given us, a rich reward. This was first published to the Reformed Outfitters (RO) website in 2012 and reposted here when RO became a part of RP in 2022....

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Adult biographies, Book Reviews

My Father’s Journey

by Harry Kleyn 2022, 411 pages A few years ago I was asked to teach a North American church history course at Covenant Canadian Reformed Teachers College. As part of that, I spent some time teaching about the history of Dutch immigration to Canada. That’s always interested me, especially because of the stories I’d hear from my Opa Bredenhof. While I don’t think he ever regarded Australia as an option, many others did.  I’ve often wondered: what if…? That’s part of what made Harry Kleyn’s My Father’s Journey such a fascinating read for me. Being familiar with stories of post-war immigration from the Netherlands to Canada, I was really interested to hear what it was like to migrate to Australia. Working with interviews, diaries, and other sources, Kleyn pens a compelling story of the challenges before, during, and after immigration. Lived through two world wars, a Great Depression, and a Liberation We hear the story of his father’s life and family background in the Netherlands. I don’t want to spoil the story for you, but it’s surprisingly intense. Having been born in 1913, Cornelis Kleijn also lived through the First World War, the Great Depression, and the Second World War. All of those world events figure into the story, but especially the last one. Being of working age, and having served in the Dutch army before the invasion in 1940, Cornelis Kleijn was exactly the kind of man the Nazis wanted to send to Germany as slave labour. How did he escape? Read the book to find out. These were also eventful years in church history. In the middle of the Second World War, a doctrinal and church political dispute was playing out in the Reformed Churches of the Netherlands. Calls to set the dispute aside until the end of the war were ignored by those in power. This led to the Liberation (Vrijmaking) of 1944. We read of how Cornelis Kleijn and his wife Willempje found themselves with that Liberation. After the Second World War, the Netherlands was a disaster zone. The economy was in shambles. The Dutch government urged citizens to migrate overseas to reduce the pressure. Countries like Canada and Australia were eager to receive Dutch immigrants.  Canada was out of the question for Cornelis and Willempje Kleijn – too cold!  South Africa was considered, but Australia was for them the best option. Our author relates the story of packing up, saying good-bye, and enduring the long sea voyage to Fremantle, Western Australia. New country, climate, and language, same faithful God Having arrived in Australia, there were new challenges to overcome. There was a new culture, a new language, a new work environment, and a new climate. Many families, including the Kleijns, experienced setbacks. There were various difficulties in church life and Harry Kleyn is forthright about them, but in a respectful manner. In later life, the elderly Cornelis and Willempje Kleijn continued to experience various adversities in their family. The whole story is one of trying times. I remember visiting with an elderly parishioner once who told me he was so thankful because there’d never been any deaths in their family and never any serious illnesses or problems. Everything had gone smoothly in life.  That’s not the Kleijn family as described in this book. This is a family who experienced real hardships. But more than that, what stands out in the story is how God carried them through. With his Holy Spirit, he sustained their trust in him. This is a story of how God lifts up his people in their faith and brings them through the fires. One final thing I appreciated about My Father’s Journey: even though the focus is on Cornelis Kleijn, his wife Willempje isn’t just in the background. Her diary entries and letters are often quoted (in translation). We hear of her frustrations at trying to master English, something she was never able to do. We hear of how hard it was to give birth in a hospital in a foreign land. We hear of the difficulties in keeping a house and raising children when your husband is gone most of the day trying to earn a living. It’s good to hear more about the experience of women in post-war Dutch immigration, especially via first-hand accounts. This is a well-written and well-researched family biography. I highly recommend it, not only for those with an interest in the history of Dutch migration, but also for anyone who just wants to read an encouraging story about how God upholds his people through the toughest times. Even though it’s not a short book, I read it in just a couple of days and I’m sure you’ll find it to be just as captivating as I did. My Father’s Journey is available through most major online retailers....

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Drama, Movie Reviews

The Hobbit: the film trilogy

AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY 2012 / 169 min (also a 182-min version) Rating: 8/10 THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG 2013 / 161 min (also a 186-min version) Rating: 8/10 THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES 2014 / 144 min (also a 164-min version) Rating: 7/10 Bilbo Baggins was quite content puttering around his garden, sitting in his armchair, and reading his books – he wasn’t looking for adventure. But then a tall wizard and a dozen dwarves asked this small hobbit to come help them battle a huge dragon. It was the sort of offer any respectable hobbit would refuse...and Bilbo did. “An adventure?.... Nasty, disturbing, uncomfortable things. Make you late for dinner….We do not want any adventures here, thank you!” But something was stirring inside this quiet soul. Might he be an adventurous sort after all? The next day Bilbo surprises even himself by taking the dwarves up on their offer. Off he goes, on a long journey to the Lonely Mountain where the fearsome dragon Smaug guards his stolen hoard of treasure. On the way the company meets trolls, giants, horse-sized spiders, orcs – lots and lots of orcs! – and a kingdom’s worth of elves. But why did they want this little hobbit to come with? The dwarves don’t know; they agreed because the wizard, Gandalf, insisted. And Gandalf isn’t entirely sure himself. The is the best explanation he can offer: “I don't know. Saruman believes it is only great power that can hold evil in check, but that is not what I have found. I've found it is the small things; everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keeps the darkness at bay... simple acts of kindness, and love. Why Bilbo Baggins? Perhaps it is because I am afraid... and he gives me courage.” Book to film This is the second time that director Peter Jackson has adapted a J.R.R. Tolkien story to film. The first, the Lord of the Rings trilogy, was one of the few movie adaptions to live up to its source material: three exceptional books became three of the best movies ever made, even as they remained quite loyal to the original story. This time around a great book has been transformed into three films, and while the films are quite good, they hardly resemble the book. Oh yes, all the major plot elements are still there, but because Peter Jackson had to stretch the book into three films he added lots of extra bits. A few of those bits are sweet like a love story between elf and dwarf, but most are violent: two enormous battles have been added and numerous skirmishes. The Hobbit was a children’s tale, a sort of kinder, gentler version of Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings adventure. But there is nothing kinder or gentler about this film version – children shouldn't see it. So anyone loyal to the book will have good reason not to like the films. But if we forget the book they came from, and think of these films simply as adventure movies, then they are rollicking tales! Cautions The biggest caution concerns the violence because there's lots of it. It is mostly of a bloodless sort, which is why, despite the films’ enormous death toll, they still managed a PG-13 rating. But there is just so much of it! Fearsome villains are one reason this is not a film for children! Very little of it is realistic – it struck me as being video game-ish – but the most disturbing aspect is when it is played out for comic effect. When this band of brothers fights because it must, that is brave and heroic, and we can cheer them on. But what are we to think when Gandalf slices through an orc’s neck so cleanly his head remains in place? We get a quick look at the orc’s confused, distressed facial expression before Gandalf gives his head a tap to send it rolling off. This is meant to get a laugh, but it just gave me the creebles. Death as comedy? I should also note that while I haven’t watched the extended versions, I have heard that the violence in the extended version of the last film, The Battle of the Five Armies, would be enough to get it an R-rating. I could add some cautions about the occasional bit of juvenile humor (there are a couple of snot jokes, etc.) but since no child should be watching this anyway, and teens and adults aren’t going to be impacted, that will suffice. The only other caution concerns the magic that pops up throughout the film. Some of it is of the dark sort. The villain behind the scenes, causing many of the company’s problems, is the Necromancer, who had nine undead soldiers doing his bidding. He is demonic-looking. Now God condemns witchcraft (Deuteronomy 18:10-12, Leviticus 19:26, 20:6) and the casting of spells, so it’s not a big deal to show a villain making use of magic – they are supposed to be bad! More problematic is when the heroes do it too, and a lot of them do, with Bilbo Baggins even dabbling in what seems to be the dark arts after he finds a magic ring that turns him invisible but which also whispers wickedly – once the ring even tries to convince Bilbo to murder someone! So what should we think of heroes who use magic? That would be a discussion worth having with your kids. Bilbo's use of the ring highlights the dangers of dark magic - in The Hobbit we get only a glimpse of the sort of temptation this ring will pose in the later Lord of the Rings trilogy, but it's enough to know this ring is not some cute play toy but rather an ever-present and enticing lure. Conclusion There is also a lot to love here: the company is courageous, and Bilbo Baggins grows in bravery through the film. Our heroes are quite heroic! Many of the themes are admirable, and even biblical, like: money can corrupt a man has no greater love than that he is willing to lay down his life for another loyalty doesn’t mean blindly following love can require us to confront a friend vengeance can blind us bravery doesn’t mean not being afraid a small weak fellow putting bigger stronger sorts to shame (1 Cor. 1:26-29) It wouldn’t be hard to find many others. So overall I’d rate this as an above-average action-adventure that isn’t suitable for children, but might be enjoyed and discussed with older teens. For a film version of The Hobbit that you can share with children, consider the animated one which I review here. ...

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Documentary, Movie Reviews, Watch for free

The Privileged Planet

Documentary 60 minutes, 2005 Rating: 8/10 This hour-long documentary makes a compelling case that we live on a "privileged planet." If the Earth was a different size, or in a different location, or if the moon’s orbit was to shift ever so slightly, then many of the most important scientific discoveries we’ve made about space could never have happened. For example, it is because our moon is 400 times closer to us than the Sun, but also 400 times smaller than the Sun, that we are able to study the outer corona of Sol during solar eclipses. And did you know that our large moon - one quarter the size of the Earth – helps stabilize the tilt of our orbit, giving us our seasons? We are the right distance from the right kind of Sun, with just the right type of internal liquid iron core to generate a magnetic field to protect us from the Sun's most harmful rays. All this is just the way it needs to be! Want to learn more? Well, you'll have to watch the video. But the point is that the Earth has been clearly designed for life, and it has also been equipped for that life to discover what's going on in the Solar System around us. Now, like many an “Intelligent Designer” presentation, this doesn't specifically credit our Triune God, and that's a shame. But Christian viewers will know Who to praise for the astonishing engineering evidenced not only on our planet, but in our placement in the Universe. Stunning graphics accompany a strong argument, and it sure doesn't hurt that John Rhys-Davies (Gimli, in Lord of the Rings) narrates. This is a superior documentary that will appeal to anyone interested in the way God has designed the solar system, the Milky Way, and our planet Earth. It's available on DVD, some streaming platforms, or you can watch it for free (in 12 parts) below. ...

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Book lists, Book Reviews, Children’s picture books

7 (or is it 8?) great board books!

If you want to foster a love for reading in your children, it's never too early to start reading to them. Even newborns will tune in when a parent cracks open a book – a baby doesn't need to understand the story to appreciate mom or dad's calming voice. And if they get to hold the book in their chubby little hands, all the better! The ingredients for a good board book are pretty simple. The most important is probably that it have no sharp corners and be printed with lead-free paper because this is going to be as much a food item as anything else. Eat books, we are told, and babies do! Next, it should be a book parents won't mind paging through again and again. It's on this point that repetitious "classics" like Goodnight Moon and Chicka Chicka Boom Boom have been disqualified. Loved by children though they may be, I know I'm not the only dad to begrudge even one more reading (strangely, I've yet to meet a mom who has the same strong feelings). On a more serious note, board books have become the latest front for our cultural war, with Anti-Racist Baby, Woke Baby, A is for Activist and Feminist Baby in the mix on your local bookstore's board book section. On the other side of the political spectrum, conservative commentator Matt Walsh decided that he'd also entered the board book marketplace. His Johnny is a Walrus is about: a kid who "identifies" as a walrus, the mother who takes him way too seriously, and the doctor who suggests a surgery that turns "feet into fins." Walrus is a satiric take on transgender nonsense, and, in what might be a demonstration of our Sovereign God's sense of humor, it actually ended up on the top of Amazon.com's LGBTQ bestseller list. Really! But whether it be left or rightwing, the point is, politics have invaded even the board book section, so be sure to read before you buy. And, fortunately, with board books that'll only take you a minute. Now let's return to children's fare. The 7 suggestions below are arranged by age, with the first ones best for the very young, and the later ones with material that older sorts can enjoy. Peak-a-boo! by Janet and Allan Ahlberg 1997 / 32 pages The setting is England, and it appears to be right around World War II (judging from the daddy's uniform). The "plot" is very simple – the story starts with a baby in his crib, waking up in the morning and looking around to see what he can see. We follow him through the day, always seeing through his eyes, until his day ends and he heads to bed. It's the book's construction that fascinated my daughter. On the first two-page spread the baby is in her crib on the left-hand side, and the right page is all white, but with a large round hole cut through it so that we (and the baby) can "peek" to see what is on the next page. Once we are done peeking, we can turn the page, and look at a full page of activity – illustrator Janet Ahlberg fills her pictures with layers of detail. There is so much to see Daddy doesn't even mind paging through it again and again and again! Readers get to play peek-a-boo five times, peering through each hole to see what comes next. The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle 1969 / 22 pages It's over 50 years old and as popular as ever. The plot is summed up by the book's title: it is about a very hungry caterpillar who eats and eats and eats for a week, and then builds a cocoon and turns into a beautiful butterfly. There are two different aspects of this book that made it one of my daughter's favorites: First, the inside pages are very easy for little hands to turn because they vary in width. On Monday the caterpillar eats through one apple, and the page with the apple is only a fifth as wide as the rest of the book; on Tuesday he eats through two pears, and that page is two fifths as wide, and so it continues with three plums (three fifths as wide), four strawberries, and finally five oranges. Second, the page covering what the caterpillar eats on Saturday is a two-page spread of colorful cake, ice cream, cheese, sausage pie, watermelon, and more, and it looks good enough to eat. Our little ones liked to turn to this page first, and flipped back to it again and again and again. But Not The Hippopotamus by Sandra Boynton 1984 / 14 pages Hippo doesn’t seem to be included in much of what her friends are up to. For example, we learn on the very first page of this board book, that “A hog and a frog cavort in the bog… but not the Hippopotamus.” On the next page, it's more of the same: “A cat and two rats are trying on hats… but not the Hippopotamus.” Poor Hippo! She is always being left out. After a few more pages of forlorn Hippo looking wistfully at what others are up to, (and the repeating refrain, “…but not the Hippopotamus”) the rest notice how neglectful they’ve been, and invite Hippo to “come join the lot of us!” Now as we all know invitations are nice, but sometimes people turn them down, even when they really want to go. So we are in suspense as shy Hippo ponders what to do: “She just doesn’t know – Should she stay? Should she go?” So it is with joy that we turn the page to see her exclaim: “BUT YES THE HIPPOPOTAMUS!” That is not, however, the end of the book. One line follows: “…but not the armadillo.” This small creature is staring sadly after Hippo as she joins the group. It is a great end to a remarkable little book. Yes, it is full of fun rhymes, a great rhythm, and has friendly engaging pictures too, but it is this final line that really sets it apart. Here we see that not only should we include others in our groups, but even when we do step outside ourselves, and make that invitation, doing it once, to one person is only a start. There are still others who are being forgotten and could use a friend. And if your son or daughter is in Hippo's position, a different sort of lesson can be taught, to show them that they have to seize opportunities when they come. Poor Hippo would still have been lonely if she had said no. Good Night Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann 1994 / 36 pages When a zookeeper does one last walk-thru before heading for bed himself, he says "good night" to each animal, starting with the gorilla. But as he visits each animal in turn, there is a little gorilla and his mouse friend, trailing behind, and unlocking all the cages. Eventually, a whole train of critters follows the keeper to his house and right into his bedroom. It's only when his wife says "good night " to him in the dark, and gets a chorus of "good night"s from all around the room, that the gorilla's entourage is discovered. But it seems the weary zookeeper has dropped right off to sleep, so it's up to his wife to lead all the animals back to the zoo. Well, not all the animals. As she makes her way back home we see that she has some quiet company – the gorilla, and his little mouse friend, won't be left behind! You Are Special by Max Lucado 2000 / 28 pages Punchinello is a wooden "Wemmick" living in a town of other wooden people. These Wemmicks have made a habit of placing stickers on one another, gold stars for good, gray dots for bad. The pretty ones and talented ones always got stars..." but not poor Punchinello. When he tries to jump or run like the others, he trips. And then the others give him dots. "Then when he would try to explain why he fell, he would say something silly, and the Wemmicks would give him more dots." It gets so bad that he doesn't feel like going outside, and he starts to believe what the other Wemmicks are saying about him, that he deserves these gray dots. Things turn around when Punchinello meets a Wemmick, Lucia, who doesn't have any stars or dots. They just don't stick to her. Punchinello wants to know how he can be like that. Lucia tells him to go visit Eli the woodcarver who tells Punchinello that he matters because Eli, his maker, thinks he matters. And the dots and stars won't stick if Punchinello remembers that. Parents will understand that Eli is to Punchinello as God is to us, but some children may need some help understanding this metaphor. This is a great book that older kids can benefit from, perhaps while reading it to their younger siblings. School can be such a battleground, even at a Christian school, with so many children trying to get ahead by putting others down. Parents will appreciate the impact this book's message could have for their children if they really understand that it doesn't matter what others say about us, because we are God's own children, made in His own Image. The one danger here is that the lesson could be readily misunderstood by a child as countering what others think by elevating the child, rather than countering what others think by elevating the thoughts of God. That's a bit of a fine point, but one that parents can help their children understand. This is available as a board book or a slightly bigger picture book, and it is worth getting the one, and then the other as your child ages. Your Personal Penguin by Sandra Boynton 2006 / 21 pages This is my favorite board book of all, but that might be colored a bit by the fact my wife gave it as a gift when we were dating. But what cemented it as a favorite for our kids is the free sing-a-long song you can download for it. Davy Jones of The Monkees does a fantastic job with this little ditty. The tune is memorable, which meant that even I could do a pretty decent rendition singing it to our kids. It's about a penguin who loves a hippo and has a proposal: I want to be your personal penguin I want to walk right by your side I want to be your personal penguin I want to travel with you far and wide... Sanda Boynton has many other great board books including The Going to Bed Book, Fifteen Animals, and Barnyard Dance and while I haven't run across any that aren't great, I did just notice that she's started listing her personal pronouns as "she/her" which is better than going with "he/zer" but still shows she's bought into this "more than two genders" nonsense. So, again, read before you buy. You can check out the Your Personal Penguin song (and other Boynton hits) here. Goodnight Mr. Darcy by Kate Coombs 2015 / 20 pages This is a gimmick, but so brilliantly done it deserves a spot on this list. As you may have already deduced from the title, this is a mash-up of the board book classic Goodnight Moon and a classic of another sort, Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.  As stated earlier,  I am not a fan of Margaret Wise Brown's 1947 Goodnight Moon. I could handle it once or twice, but the simple repetitions started driving me a little batty even going on thrice. So when I saw this, in the same coloring, and a similar rhythm, but much more clever, I thought it might be the perfect substitute. And it was! Here's a little taste: In the great ballroom There was a country dance And a well-played tune And Elisabeth Bennet – This really is intended for adults, but the rhythm and rhyme will grab your children's interest too. This is not the only board book version of Pride and Prejudice, but as the others lack the same charm, be sure if you have the right author....

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