The Garden the Curtain and the Cross: Biblical Book for Kids

There are many reviews for this book on the internet with most reviewers singing its praises.  Although it is not specifically a Catholic book, it is certainly Biblically sound.  The story focuses on how we were sent out of the Garden of Eden because of sin, and that ultimately Jesus died so that we can enter heaven to be with God once more. 

Along the way, children will discover that God asked people to build a temple where they could visit God, but that a curtain was draped across the most holy place and that people were told not to enter.  When Jesus died, God ripped the curtain so that we could all go to heaven together with Jesus. 

 

It’s always a challenge to convey complex ideas and truths in a way that children can understand.  It’s a fine line between too much information and not enough.  Although I felt a little confused sometimes by the story, children will accept the story as it is and enjoy it. There are a lot of details in the drawings that children will enjoy talking about and gazing at as you read the book to them.  There is scant information about Jesus as a person.  His death is described thus: 

“People still didn’t want to 

let God be in charge. 

So they decided to put 

Jesus on a cross to die.”

The final pages celebrate the fact that Jesus has taken all of our sins so that we can all be together in heaven with God. 

Personally, I found the illustrations to be confusing at times.  The book begins with beautiful, bright, crisp illustrations that depict a happy Garden of Eden.  Once people are banished the pictures become grainy and harder to see properly.  Several times I had to take time to work out what it was I was looking at.  

There is nothing that is un-Christian or un-Catholic about the book.  I would happily have this book on the shelf for children to read, and it is certainly a good way to reinforce the importance of the temple in ancient times and link the stories of the Garden of Eden and the Gospels.  Ultimately however,  it was not a book I enjoyed reading because the text did not follow the normal ‘arc’ of a story book.  I did not engage emotionally with characters, I had trouble with the huge leaps across time and how to piece the story into a coherent whole.  Similarly, I was not a fan of the style of art used, which also appeared chaotic and incoherent. I wonder if children will really take much away from the book, although they will probably enjoy perusing the details of the illustrations. 

 

You can purchase The Garden, The Curtain and the Cross HERE>