Bible studies are an important part of our homeschool. We really want our kids to develop a strong personal relationship with God. One way to do this is through daily devotions. So, we were excited to try out the The Action Bible Anytime Devotions: 90 Ways to Help Kids Connect with God Anytime, Anywhere from David C Cook.
What Is This Product?
Written for kids ages 8-12, this book helps preteens connect with God in a personal way. Inside, you’ll find 90 different devotions that your child can read. They’re illustrated in an engaging, comic book style manner. Sergio Cariello did the illustrations, and he’s a Brazilian comic book artist, so they really are high-quality illustrations.
There are 200 pages inside this book. It’s brand new – just published in February of 2020.
There are two pages at the front dedicated to how to use the book. One is for parents and one is for kids. The page for kids is written in engaging language, and offers some ideas for how to learn from and apply what they read.
The Table of Contents has the devotion title, and then also shows what category each devotion falls into. This book has lessons that focus on:
- Love
- Courage
- Hope
- Trust
- Faith
- Kindness
- Strength
- Service
If your child needs help in a particular area, this makes it simple to find an appropriate page for them to turn to. That’s one of the best parts about this book, you can read it in any order. So feel free to jump around and land on the pages that you need the most right now.
What Are the Devotions Like?
Each devotion starts with a scripture, then has a lesson directly related to that. There are often questions and action steps to help readers get the most out of it. There’s a sample prayer that they could pray.
At the end of each two-page devotion, you’ll find a “Take It Further” section. This tells where you can find the rest of the story in the Bible. It lists the title of the section in The Action Bible, and the section of scripture for those (like us) who prefer to use a different version.
How We Used This Product 
This devotion was a great first independent devotion for my eleven-year-old son. He found the pictures engaging, and could read and understand most of the content (he’s struggled with reading, so is a bit below grade level.)
I’d sometimes have him read the devotion on his own. Then we’d discuss the passage. Occasionally, we read together, or I read to him. We tended to discuss the topics in a more in-depth way when we read them together.
He enjoyed that some pages had simple activities. For instance, drawing a boat and writing down the things that have been overwhelming inside the boat. This helped him think of things that have been hard or causing stress, and he was able to pray and ask God to help him get through.
We didn’t have a set time each day when we read this book. Sometimes it happened in the morning, sometimes in the afternoon, and sometimes it didn’t happen at all. That’s another perk of this book, it really can be done anywhere at anytime. You don’t need to bring a whole lot of supplies along. Just the book and a Bible (if you want to dive deeper.)
What We Thought
My son enjoyed this product. He learned a lot, and it opened up a lot of great discussions.
Though it was good quality, I didn’t love the artwork. It seemed over the top to me, almost in a gimmicky kind of way. But, it did engage my pre-teen, so maybe it’s just that I’m getting old. 😀 It is definitely graphic novel style.
It doesn’t dive deep on any one topic, since it’s meant for kids. It’s more of a broad overview. But, it’s a great way to help them build a solid foundation on which to build more theology when they’re older.
I do wish that there was an index that had the devotions grouped by topics. They have the topics listed, and each devotion is clearly labeled for which it is, but it’d be nice to be able to see all of the “Faith” ones at once, so we could easily turn from one to another. But, it was very usable without that feature.
So, if you’re looking for a fun way to help your pre-teen learn more about God, this is a good starting point, and I’d recommend it. Especially if you have a child who enjoys graphic novels!
We weren’t the only family trying out this product. To see what others on the Homeschool Review Crew thought, please click on the banner below.
