Be Like God: God's To-Do List for Kids Paperback – June 15, 2012

I am only on chapter 2 of this book because I use the questions and topics to discuss G_d with my 7 year old. This book is not like others. It is very interactive! Some of the creative questions to the child helps them think of answers on their level of understanding. With my child our discussions get kind of long so we are not moving through the book very fast. And that is ok with us. Thank you.

This is a wonderful book for teachers and parents to use to guide their children. The awareness of our partnership with God is so important for us all to recognize. This little book makes it easy?

Dr. Ron Wolfson's inspirational book for kids from 8-12 is based on the Jewish and Christian response to the ancient question, "What does God require of us?" The answer given is the Latin phrase imitatio dei, "imitating God": just as God is portrayed in the Bible clothing the naked (Adam and Eve), visiting the sick (Abraham), feeding the hungry (the Israelites in the dessert), helping the needy (the Israelites again), and burying the dead (Moses), among other acts, so we should imitate His behavior, which is obviously good since God is doing them. The concept in Judaism is based on Leviticus 19:2 and in Christianity on Matthew 5:48. The book is composed in a clever manner so as to attract and stimulate youngsters to act. Each chapter, for example, has an entertaining story. Young people are encouraged to read each of the ten chapters, consider the behavior that the chapter discusses and the thirteen ways that Wolfson suggests that young people can do them. These are think about God calling you to do them, create your own to-do list, perform your to-dos, keep track, think about how this is changing your life, share your to-do list with others, read the list daily, and decide to do at least one to-do item daily. Wolfson's ten chapters discuss how God and the youngsters create, bless, rest, call, comfort, care, repair, wrestle, give, and forgive. The book also has spaces where the youngsters are encouraged to write their ideas.

Dr. Ron Wolfson's "Be Like God" is a great introduction to spirituality for kids. What I love about it is that it is written specifically for kids, in their language, not in a way that is speaking down to them, or for adults that teach kids. The young readers become an integral part of the conversation and are invited to construct their own way of relating to God. It's interactive, not narrative. It brings in real life examples of what it means to be created "in the Image of God" and what it means to act like it. My plan, as a synagogue education director, is to incorporate it as a component in our educational programming.

Dr. Wolfson has translated the complexity of theology into language that kids understand. He has turned Godliness into Goodness by encouraging kids to act on their beliefs. The super-hero motif is absolutely brilliant and engages the reader in child-friendly language, phrases and themes. Dr. Wolfson writes as if he is speaking directly to the reader and puts complex concepts into young hands in constructive, easily accessible ways. I have yet to find another theological resource for children that is as powerful and effective.