Review: Psalms for Young Children

Psalms for Young Children by Marie-Helene Delval
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I purchased this book last week from Eerdmans going off of the Google Preview only. I am very impressed and have not been disappointed! Per the copyright page, this little book, published in 2008 by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, was first published in 2003 in French by Bayard Editions Jeunesse.

The artwork, by Arno, is bright, creative, engaging and well-suited to the selected texts. I was struck by the way the artist did not gloss over the lament passages making everything to look bright and cheerful. Rather, when the text is solemn, the characters appear to be solemn, when sad, likewise, and when joyful, the same. This is an example of careful, artistic interpretation.

The texts are "summary-paraphrases" of selected psalms. One question I had concerning the text was, "Will a child be able to smoothly transition from each "summary-paraphrase" to the full translation?"
After comparing many of the texts with the full translation, I'm confident that this will be a smooth transition. In fact, the value of a "summary-paraphrase" is that it seeks to pinpoint the mood and major theme of a text. I believe that Marie-Hélène Delval did an excellent job here.

This book will be an excellent introduction to the Psalter for children.

Unfortunately, this book is not available for purchase at Westminster Bookstore, but it is available in Hardcover and Kindle format from Amazon.com.

Review: Psalms for Young Children