WonderFull: Ancient Psalms Ever New by Marty Machowski

WonderFull is a resource book that is designed to be read alongside the Bible. There is a fictional story that is interspersed throughout the book about a boy named Oliver who moves with his parents to his grandpa’s farm. His grandpa introduces him to the Psalms and reads with him every day. His grandpa gets cancer and goes to be with Jesus. Oliver has a love for Jesus and sharing this good news with others by the end of the book.

As far as the daily reading sections, most days have an entire Psalm or a section of a Psalm. Then, there is a reflection section to help children understand and expand on the ideas in that particular Psalm more. There is also sometimes a “Closer Look” section that asks questions for the child to answer about their own life. This goes through all of the Psalms, some days addressing several Psalms at once. It is broken up into books just as the Psalms in the Bible.

While it could certainly be used with younger children, the target age range is 8+.

This is another excellent resource from Marty Machowski. The Psalm pages themselves are thorough and help children understand to what each psalm is pointing or what it is trying to express. There are also great questions included to help children think about their own life and faith. This could surely be used by adults with success as well for a lovely introduction to the Psalms because this book is filled with biblical truth and wisdom.

The fictional story about Oliver and his grandfather is not necessary for your children to glean great wisdom from this book. I understand that the author wanted to instill a love of reading and praying the Psalms and to show an example of the transforming power of scripture, but this is not the strong point of the book. It could certainly resonate with the right child, but it’s not where the “meat” lies. Reading the Psalm from scripture and then reading the daily section will be quite a bit of reading, so make sure that your children are in the right frame of mind to listen for a while. This could be a wonderful tool for your children and your family!

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