Science: Grades 4 and up
Jehovah's Park Versus Jurassic Park
Author: Catie Frates
Publisher: Media Angels
For More Information or to Order: http://www.catiefrates.com

Our family is a big fan of Catie Frates, so we were very excited to have the opportunity to review her book, Jehovah's Park Versus Jurassic Park.  Written in a conversational style and filled with beautiful illustrations, this book will help equip your children with Biblical and scientific information about dinosaurs.  As Catie so clearly states at the beginning of her book, the study of dinosaurs, is all about perspective.  Those who study dinosaurs either do so while looking through Naturalistic (evolution) or Biblical glasses.  From the first page, she invites us to put on our Biblical spectacles as we enter "Jehovah's Park", and then she arms us with information that both entertains and educates the reader.

Written for upper elementary children, younger children will also be enthralled as you read aloud or share information with them that you've read ahead of time.  Of course, as one who was educated by the public school system, I found myself getting quite an education as well!  Jehovah's Park Versus Jurassic Park is full of interesting information and plenty of facts.  When it comes to dinosaurs there is a lot we simply do not know, since we weren't there when they were roaming the earth.  However, there is plenty of information that can be used to piece together at least part of the dinosaur puzzle!  Catie takes us step-by-step through the many of the most popular "myths" surrounding dinosaurs and their eventual demise, carefully and respectfully dismantling evolutionary theories with scientific and historical documentation.  In fact, she doesn't want you to just take her word for it - she wants the reader to study the evidence, investigating further.  To help us dig deeper she has provided a thorough appendix, endnotes and, (thankfully) an extensive glossary.

The first two chapters of Jehovah's Park Versus Jurassic Park lay a foundation regarding the aforementioned Perspectives and Scientific Interpretations.  These are followed by an extensive overview of the different classifications of dinosaurs.  The rest of the book contains a look at the evidence for "Jehovah's Park". Catie takes us on a tour around the world and back in time to the not so distant past, giving us a glimpse of how humans have interacted with these, supposedly extinct, creatures.  I had no idea how many eyewitness accounts there have been in the last 800 years alone!  You might think a book filled with so much Biblical, historical and scientific evidence would be too dry or boring for children.  That is not the case with this one.  While there are a few places where a younger student might get bogged-down in the details, the overall feel of the book is that of a "big picture" slowly being revealed.  Speaking of pictures, the detailed illustrations and stunning cover were created by Christian artist, Richard Jeffus.  His artwork helps to further draw the reader into the awe-inspiring world of "Jehovah's Park", where man and dinosaurs existed together. 

I will end this review with a couple of remarks from my oldest son, who grabbed the book and devoured it before I even had a chance to flip through the pages!  Zachary (12) says, "This is a very interesting book!  The drawings are extremely cool and I learned a lot of things I didn't know about dinosaurs.  It is exciting to think that there might be dinosaurs still alive today."

Making the Grade: A+
Cost: $21.99
Value for Your Homeschool Dollar: 10
Review provided by Cindy Prechtel, Editor