When we were given the opportunity to review a book about creation, of course we said yes. When we received this beautiful hardcover book, everyone crowded around to look through it. Full of photos and other images illustrating various aspects of creation, the book, referred to as a coffee table book, is a feast for the eyes. We don’t have a coffee table, but we do enjoy the size and photographs in coffee table books. Purposeful Design: Understanding the Creation ($24.95 – see special offer at the end of the review) is an award winning book (deservedly so) written by Jay Schabacker. In addition to the book, there is also a downloadable curriculum to accompany it available on the Purposeful Design website.
Throughout the book (93 pages), the creation account found in Genesis is the foundation. The chapters focus on each day in succession. Within each day, purposes for what has been created or put in place are shown. Often, scientific thoughts are what is shown, though this is not a science book. We love when we can see how science supports God’s plan.
In addition to the scriptures from Genesis referenced, there are others throughout the book praising our creator. These are often found over photographs of beautiful things in nature. These images are crisp and clear. There are some other, smaller photographs that are not clear, but seem to be poorer quality. They do not detract from the book, but stand out due to the magnificence of the others. I hope this was a printing issue that will not be present in future printings.
All of our family enjoyed reading through the book. The youngers were mostly oohing and aahhing over the photos. The olders kept reading aloud this fact or that. There is a good balance of text to graphics and images. It was interesting when we tried to read aloud. As much as my children enjoyed looking through and/or reading on their own, it wasn’t as conducive to reading aloud. It’s hard to pinpoint and exact age range for this book. The reading level might put it higher, but the sheer wonder of looking through the pictures makes it appealing to all of my children – preK and up – including mom and dad.
The coordinated curriculum, Young Explorer’s Club, is free to download ($7.95 valaue). There are two files, workbook style pages and a separate teacher’s key. The questions and activities, about 3-4 pages for each chapter, are suitable for a range of ages. There are some questions which will lead to good discussions – especially your middle school and older children. There are drawing activities – my children love that! There are additional scriptures given that can be used as copywork, memorization or just for reading. The curriculum is very open ended in how it can be used. I did note on the download page that there will be some revisions eventually made to group activities by appropriate ages. That will be a great benefit. We added a few simple crafts to make the younger ones happy. This made a nice family study to get even more out of the beautiful book. You know how we homeschool moms are – everything can have a lesson built around it. It is hard to leave a book alone.
Seeing just how much God loves us to have put so much into what He made is the point and it is well made. Our home, the earth was not chaos resolving itself but intentionally, purposefully designed and executed by God out of love for us. Wow!
A special for the holidays (not sure when it will end) is $18.95 and free shipping. It is also mentioned that the curriculum is part of this special – maybe indicating that it won’t always be freely available. Snag this deal while you can!
