Books for children - recommendations please

[dvorak]

Can anyone recommend a kids book or video clip (preferably cross-cultural) about God, that is very very positive. (i.e. about how God is love and kindness and NOT about punishing or watching your behaviour. )
By way of background, I'm an atheist - my child is at a faith school and has become very anxious about God punishing her for minor bad behaviour (such as talking in assembly).
Thank you...

[noego]

How old is your child?

[Digestive28]

If you google your town may have a Christian book shop so you can go in and have a browse

[dvorak]

Thank you. I will google that. She is 7.

[noego]

There are lots of books for children and they range from Christianity teachings to Buddhism, Hinduism and Vedanta teachings depending on what you want to expose your child to. Vedanta teachers are not keen on children reading books preferring them to be children first.

[Niminy]

God's Dream by Desmond Tutu

Images of God for Young Children

[Jason118]

For balance, try The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins. I found it to be immensely enlightening.

[dvorak]

I reckon the God Delusion might be a bit beyond my 7 year old! I have no problem defending and explaining atheism. But she believes in God. So I need resources that support that belief but counter her fear of punishment.

[dvorak]

Thank you all for advice and recommendations

[speakout]

The Goddess Stories

www.amazon.com/Lady-Ten-Thousand-Names-Cultures/dp/1841480487/?tag=mumsnet&ascsubtag=mnforum-21

[dvorak]

Speakout - thank you - that looks wonderful

[OutwiththeOutCrowd]

my child is at a faith school and has become very anxious about God punishing her for minor bad behaviour (such as talking in assembly)

I would be concerned about the provenance of this idea. Is someone at the school playing up the notion of a wrathful God as a means of crowd control? It’s a sort of ‘wait till your father gets home’ strategy that is unhelpful all round.

A book that might make your DD feel reassured is You are Special by Max Lucado. The message is that people are always judging each other but God loves people just as they are, ‘flaws’ included. Admittedly, the description is more of a liberal Christian’s idea of God than a strictly biblical one. (There is no allusion to the Bible’s scary wheat-and-chaff/sheep-and-goat stories.)

You are Special being read aloud

Another book I like very much is No Matter What by Debbi Gliori. Possibly aimed at slightly younger children, the book is about the unconditional love of a parent. If children get things wrong, or behave in unsociable ways, they shouldn’t feel that this is going to shake the bedrock of your love for them - particularly important if God is being portrayed at school as hard to please.

No Matter What being read aloud

[dvorak]

Outwith - thank you for these suggestions. They both look like exactly the kind of approach I'm looking for.

And you are 100% right - I too am concerned that someone at the school has (I think unintentionally) given a very 'old testament' idea of God without contextualising the stories. Actually, it is generally a very happy nurturing school - my other child there is not worried about this at all. But with my 7 year old, who is quite literal generally, stories about floods and plagues are quite terrifying.