VERY VEGGIE DEVOS FOR LITTLE ONES

A collection of 30 Christian devotions re-enacted by the anthropomorphic vegetables and fruits from the animated VeggieTales films.

Each page includes one line of a Bible verse, a short exegesis, and a prompt to “Pray Today” with a one- or two-sentence prayer relating to the devotion’s theme. The verses stretch from Genesis to the letters of Paul, and they focus on doing good deeds, God’s love for us, praising God and “his” creation, obeying parents, etc. While most of these are developmentally appropriate, this is a lot of text for young children, and it tends to sound repetitive from the explanation to the prayer. Those unfamiliar with the VeggieTales characters may be confused as to why fruits and vegetables are acting out each devotion and how they negotiate the world without arms and legs. The brightly colored, friendly cartoon art, which resembles stills pulled from the VeggieTales videos, illustrates the scenes lightheartedly, but a smattering may produce some head-scratching; why does a baby carrot gaze at a bee to depict the verse from Mark in which Jesus says: “Let the little children come to me”?

For VeggieTales fans; others may be mystified by the reverent rhubarb and pious peas