The Spirit in Baseball & The Spirit in Football

I had the opportunity to review two new children's books recently: The Spirit in Baseball and The Spirit in Football. I really liked the concept ... teaching kids about the fruit of the Spirit by showing them how these character traits can be displayed in the midst of playing football and baseball. These books go beyond simply talking about good sportsmanship. Instead, the books teach the character of Christ, supported by Scripture.

In theory, these books are wonderful. However, I was disappointed by these books. The layout is not what I expected. Both books include a single page with the text from the rest of the pages. Then it goes on to the actual content and illustrations. Additionally, there are a lot of "extras" - dedications, about the author, information about a famous athlete, etc. They seemed a bit all over the place. The illustrations were also fairly simple ... and quite cutesy. Since the books were about baseball and football, I felt like the pictures should have been more suited for boys. These would have been fine for a book for girls.

So ... unfortunately, I don't believe that I would use this book or give as a gift. I did like the concept, though!

I received a free copy of these books from The B&B Media Group in exchange for my fair and honest review.