Product Description
Big Billy the Panda Bear lives happily at a carousel called the Gnoo Zoo in the land of Gnoo. There, he and his friends — Eistein, an intelligent elephant; Miss Marbles, a vain ostrich; and Chattaboonga and Boongachatta, the tomboy chimps — bring great joy to the children who visit each day. But one horrible night the evil dragon Reptillion takes over, robbing the gentle creatures of their music, lights, and joy – apparently forever!… More >>
In Search of the Great White Tiger: A Story About Following God
8:00 pm on September 19th, 2009 1
This series would be great for any “religious person”, but if you want to read to your children to pass on Christian truths, this book is not a good choice.
Shelia Walsh has a great goal – to use a fictional story to portray the love that God has for each one of us. One is reminded of Pilgrim’s Progress and The Chronicles of Narnia. She even mentions Pilgrim’s Progress in the forward. Sadly, she fails in accomplishing her goals. She fails because she fudges on Biblical themes.
First, God is portrayed as “The Great White Tiger”, which sounds like a number of non-Christian religions I can think of. If you are into Eastern or Native American religions I think you will be quite comfortable reading this book! But I thought the language she adopted confuses kids on the nature of God.
Secondly, in this series, “The Great White Tiger” does not sacrifice anything for love. The Christian faith centers around the work of the Son of God who gave Himself as a substitute for sinful people. The Bible answers the question, “How do we know God loves us?” with the statement “[God] loved us and sent his Son to be an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” By the way, the series denies the existence of sin (calling it a bad influence) and misses the true problem of our children’s hearts.
The love in the book rings hollow when the characters get themselves into trouble, yell out a prayer, and “The Great White Tiger” answers by sending one of his minions to help. No sacrifice on his part. It is the hollow love of a millionaire giving a dollar to a beggar.
The Biblical theme that is missing is the sacrifice that God made in sending His own Son to die. Any book that leaves out redemptive and sacrificial themes cannot truly be called a Christian book, the kind of sacrifice we see in good fiction like “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe”.
The books are not especially good either. The characters names were complicated and the story uninspiring. I became tired of hearing how “cool” the characters were.
But the worst part about this series was that it masquerades as a Christian series when it is not. It gives a poor picture of God, a hollow view of love, and a distorted view of human nature.
You may say, it is just a kids book, but I say that I want my kids to be connected with important truths. I believe the truth will set them free. Walsh tried to make God’s love understandable, and instead makes love a petty thing by removing the concept of sacrifice.
I have never written a negative review of a children’s book before and am saddened that I have to. I like most of the books I read to my kids, even the majority of the non-Christian ones, but these ones were so bad I felt I had to write.
Please, authors, write good Christian books, write good secular books, but don’t try to mishmash them together, it makes bad and confusing reading!
Rating: 1 / 5
8:15 pm on September 19th, 2009 2
I used the series on Wednesday nights at church last year. The kids (K-2nd grade) loved them. A couple of weeks ago, a third grader asked what was happening with the Great White Tiger. During the year, I’d see kids out at various places and they would beg me to tell them what was going to happen next. Those incidences speak for themselves. I wish Ms. Walsh would write another book to go along with this wonderful series.
Rating: 5 / 5
9:40 pm on September 19th, 2009 3
This book is wonderful. I bought it for my 4 year-old and 7 year-old nieces. They loved it. After I read it to them, I bought another copy and took it to church so that I could read it to my Sunday school class. The children were so enthralled, sitting quietly so that they could hear the story and see the pictures! My nieces and my sunday school students recognized that the Great White Tiger was God immediately.
Rating: 5 / 5
12:34 am on September 20th, 2009 4
Part of the outstanding Tommy Nelson “Gnoo Zoo” series, and based on the popular book by Sheila Walsh, In Search Of The Great White Tiger: A Story About Following God is a wonderfully produced and presented 42-minute video showcasing the story of Big Billy the panda, his animal friends, and the night an evil dragon attempted to take over Gnoo Zoo to rob the gentle creatures of their music, lights, and joy. To save the zoo our heroes go in search of the Great White Tiger in an imaginative, exciting, totally entertaining animated, “child friendly” adventure. In Search Of The Great White Tiger is very highly recommended, especially for young viewers ages 5 through 8.
Rating: 5 / 5