GOD'S BIG PLAN

Diversity is God’s gift to his creation.

In this new interpretation of the biblical story of the Tower of Babel, readers are told of the descendants of Noah and how they lived together in the city of Shinar. The people were all the same; they looked alike, lived the same way, and spoke one language. They wanted life to remain that way; however, God had a different plan. He wanted his people to be diverse, and so he gave them many different languages, ways of life, and places to live around the world. The story continues with readers seeing the great diversity God created: different races, religions, and lands. Yamasaki’s stunning illustrations are colorful and rich, showing diversity in everything from types of homes to a wide array of foods to multiple houses of worship. Readers are taken from the world and people of ancient Babylon to diverse, modern children eating around a table, giving child readers the opportunity to relate to and see themselves reflected in the story. This is a provocative vehicle for introducing ideas of diversity to young readers. Questions to discuss with young children are provided that will allow readers to reflect upon the ways people are both different and alike. Although members and symbols of nonmonotheistic faiths are represented in the illustrations, neither primary text nor backmatter acknowledges that many of Earth’s peoples do not recognize this book’s construction of God.

Children of Abrahamic faiths drawn to this book’s bright, eye-catching illustrations will find a message of inclusion within.