Spring and baby animals are such an iconic combo, and I'm excited to share a new picture book out for spring 2025 that combines them adorably, Barnaby the Runaway Sheep: A Parable of the Lost Sheep.
Thank you to Paraclete Press for providing me with a free review copy of the book so that I could check it out before sharing it with you! The Amazon links in this post are affiliate links, which doesn't change your price, but means that I get a tiny bit of Amazon's profits if you choose to purchase through one of them. Thanks for supporting SiouxlandFamilies.com!
.png)
Barnaby the Runaway Sheep is the latest title from Maria Antonia, an imaginative writer best known for the Christmas Elephant. You can learn more about Antonia and her books on her author website. Barnaby the Runaway Sheep is sweetly illustrated by Sayani Mukherjee and is published by Paraclete Press.
As you might have guessed from the full title, this book is based on one of the parables from the Bible, specifically the parable of the lost sheep from Luke 15. In this cute retelling, the sheep's name is Barnaby, and he runs away because he doesn't want to have his wool sheared.
Will Barnaby return home and trust his shepherds? Or remain in the wilderness? If you're familiar with the parable, you can probably guess the ending, but kids will find it exciting, and I think it's a great introduction to this parable, and in a presentation that kids will love.
My kids enjoyed it, and while my 8-year-old was able to understand it on a deeper level, even my 3-year-old managed to listen to the entire thing and have a great time doing so. She especially loved saying "baa" like Barnaby and liked it when I did a kind of silly voice for the shepherd's call. I thought the story was really well done, turning the parable into a coherent picture book story that will make sense to kids without adding a bunch of tangential points that would make the main message confusing. It was well-focused and adorable throughout, and I'll definitely be reading it with my kids for years to come.
This is a lovely book for any family who wants to teach their kids biblical parables, for everyday reading at home or to tuck into an Easter basket, and I think it'd also be great for church libraries, Sunday School teachers, religious ed classrooms, etc.
You can find Barnaby the Runaway Sheep at your favorite bookstores in-person and online as of March 2025.
Comments
Post a Comment
Thanks for joining in the conversation! We can't wait to hear what you have to say. Some comments are moderated, so it may take some time for your comment to appear on the site. We encourage lively discussion, but will delete comments that are hostile, hateful, spammy, or rude.