Forensic Faith for Kids (Review)

Today I'm sharing our review of the book Forensic Faith for Kids from David C Cook and  Case Makers Academy.  For this review, we received a paperback, physical copy of the book.

The book is written in 2nd person, where "you" are one of the characters.   There are two story lines going at one time, that seem to have nothing to do with each other until the last few pages of the book.  Throughout the book, there are black and white illustration's that either refer to something going on in the story, or contain a direct quote from the book.   For the reader who is artistic, the graphics in this book would allow for easy coloring.

Each chapter also contains a CSI Assignment, where the reader is told to look up a scripture and then answer some very basic questions.   There is also a Dig Deep blurb per chapter that reminds the reader to  go to the Online Academy and complete the Training Activities and Note sheets, while building an Academy Notebook.   There are also adult leader guides and video's to go along with the chapters.   There is also a certificate of completion in the back of the book if you'd like to award it to your reader's.

The author's website says the book is for reader's ages 8-12, so I had my just turned 13 year old read it.  (As in turned 13 while we were waiting for the book to arrive.)    She didn't care for the 2nd person story line  "because it keeps saying I'm there doing stuff and obviously I'm not."   She also felt that the "learning to share about Jesus" part was lost in the overlapping story line about finding the puppy's owner.  Her impression was that it is written for a much younger audience, 8-10 years old at the most.

I also read the book and came away with many of the same opinions as Lindsey.   I'm definitely not a fan on the 2nd person writing style.   Doctrinally, I don't necessarily agree with the correlation of sharing Jesus with others as being "forensic faith" which according to the author means "because of evidence".   While we believe that Jesus died on the cross, rose from the dead and sits on the right hand of the Father, we have no "proof" since we weren't there....but we have faith that He did all those things.   Maybe it's just me, but the explanation of forensic faith in reference to our Christian experience seems to be in direct opposition to Hebrews 11:1 "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidences of things not seen."  

I think this books and it's accompanying printouts and activities would lend itself well to a group study for both girls and boys, but  I'd definitely lean towards the younger end of the recommended age group, or add some serious beefing up  for the 11-12 year old gang.   The drawings within the book are large enough that students could spend time coloring those as part of group activity time.

To read other Crew members reviews of this product, click here.