Bible Then and Now by Jenny Roberts. Library section 9 A: Juvenile (K - 5), Religion and Values). I love this wonderful book which uses acetate overlay pages to show you what modern day ruins of religious buildings in Jerusalem, Babylon, Jericho and 11 other sites, looked like in Bible times. Oh, cool! Kids who enjoy playing with blocks and Legos or who like to draw dream houses, or adults who enjoy architecture, archaeology, and history, will go crazy for this book.
A photo of the ruin as it looks today, the overlay showing what that ruin once looked like in its glory days, and lots of other information about the site in question sparks our imagination and makes Bible sites come alive. Herod’s Temples in Jerusalem and Jericho, Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity, Nebuchadnezzar’s city of Babylon, Hebron’s Tomb of the Patriarchs – they’re all here and more, along with information about famous mountains (Sinai, Moriah, Carmel), the route of Jesus’ trip to the cross, Joseph in Egypt and many other sidelights round out this fun and informative book.
It’s a great book for parents to share with their children, especially the overlays. Looking at the book together and perhaps even trying to construct a replica in Legos would be a great project to work on just for fun. ( )