Diary of a disciple: Luke’s Story has been a huge hit with families. It is a retelling of Luke’s Gospel even more from Luke’s perspective than his Gospel, if that makes sense. It follows the well worn format of Tom Gates and Diary of a Wimpy Kid with every page full of pictures, quirky shapes and funky doodling to break up the text. The style of writing is fast paced and easy to read.
As with any publishing success, a sequel was sure to follow and hasn’t it worked out well that Luke went to the trouble of writing the perfect Part Two, in the Book of Acts?! The same author and illustrator have gone to work with Diary of a disciple: Peter and Paul’s Story. It is just as good as the first.
My hard-to-please eight year old son has enjoyed me reading these to him and other parents have told me a similar story. It is very rare in our family for a child to want a second chapter of a Christian book to be read in one sitting. These books manage that achievement. It is obvious but true that the wonder of Luke’s Gospel and Acts shines through these books. The author, Gemma Willis, has done well to write these as children’s books without losing the wonder of Luke’s ‘originals’. Jesus leaps out of Luke’s Story and the miraculous work of the Spirit in the early church leaps out of Peter and Paul’s Story. In my fussiness, I want questions and explanations throughout, but Scripture Union’s decision to leave the story as it is invites the reader to ask their own questions. Of course, now there are activity books to go with each – you can find all the extra questions you could ever need!
These are great for 7-11 year olds, or any fans of Tom Gates and Diary of a Wimpy Kid.
