Book Review: Jonah and the Great Big Fish

Most of the last few Children's Books I've reviewed have been geared towards Stinker, so I figured I would review a book for Junior this time. Jonah and the Great Big Fish is a retelling of, you guessed it, the Biblical account of Jonah. It is written by Rhonda Gowler Greene and illustrated by Margaret Spengler. 

This square hardcover would be a good storytime book to read aloud. The book is written in rhyme, which makes it appealing to children, and the rhymes flow nicely. It's a pretty accurate retelling of Jonah, and I also liked how the fonts changed for various words (such as tall, small, and wide) that made them stand out more, so I knew to emphasize those words when reading out loud.

One main detraction from this book is the illustrations. They are cute and whimsical, but they seem really blurry and out of focus which makes it difficult to spend a lot of time looking at each picture. While I reviewed this book for Junior, Stinker (age 6) is the one who understood it, and she said she liked it. But, she also has a large vocabulary. I don't think most young kids would know the meaning of the words "mariners", "prevailed", and "mournful". So, I while the style of this book seemed like it was going to be for the preschool crowd, it was probably more geared towards the younger elementary group. 

I did like how this book brought the book of Jonah to life for my kids, but I would like it a lot more if the illustrations were easier to focus on and the wording was more oriented towards younger kids.

Bottom Line: 6*/10*

**I was provided a complimentary review copy of this book from BookLook Bloggers and Zonderkidz Publishing in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own and have not been influenced in any way.