"God's Big Plan" offers a new interpretation of the Genesis story of Babel. Rather than God “scattering them abroad” as a punishment, the idea was that God created people to populate all places on earth. The book shows little children that speaking different languages with different customs and traditions are all part of God's plan. Bright illustrations and images of people of different races, religions and ages support the text. The author includes notes for parents and teachers, plus some questions for children to think about and discuss.

God's Big Plan by Elizabeth F. Caldwell and Theodore Hiebert retells the story of Babel from the book of Genesis in the Bible. The retelling is a completely contemporary interpretation of the scriptures. In God's Big Plan the authors describe the scene as one in which the people want to be the same. God changes everything by giving them different languages and telling them to live all over the world.
Scripture says that God saw what the people were doing and was dismayed by man's desire to rebel. God had said to go into the world and multiply, but the people in Shinar wanted to stay where they were. God confused their language and scattered them throughout the world.
Another problem I have with the story is the naming of Noah's wife. In this story she is named Naamah. I have read other texts that indicated her name was Emzara. Giving her a name is not necessary to tell this story.
From a fundamental, evangelical Christian point-of-view, I would not recommend this book. There are too many issues which go against my Christian beliefs based on scripture.

This children's book is a retelling of the tower of Babel from Genesis 11, which emphasizes that God created cultural diversity. The painterly illustrations add to the story, and I appreciated the diversity depicted in the section on the modern-day effects of the actions God took so long ago.

In a retelling of Genesis 11: 1-9, after the flood Noah and his descendants all moved to the city of Shinar. Here, everyone was alike and they spoke the same language. They liked all being the same. God looked down on them and said “If I do not do something, everyone will be just like everyone else forever.” God wanted the world to be full of many kinds of people. Thus, they were given different languages. The people were then dispersed throughout the world. God’s big plan resulted in the world now being filled with different languages, different peoples, and different ways of living.

I thought this was a beautiful retelling for children to understand the beauty of a diverse world. They can grasp the monotony of all being the same and the wonder of experiencing and sharing our differences. The illustrations are lovely, the language simple. In the back of the book are discussion questions and a note to parents and educators.

Some will find the story disturbing as it discards the Biblical story based on the idea that God is punishing the people for wanting to build a tower that reaches to the heavens. However, I especially like the retelling in today’s climate of divisiveness.

Thanks to Flyaway Books for the complimentary review copy. Opinions are my own. ( )

I was excited about the chance to get to review this title, and I was looking forward to reading it to my grandchildren. I'm disappointed in the book, however. It's heavy-handed and didactic in its message, too preachy. I find this generally backfires. I also think it misses the mark. The author explains in an afterword why the text veers so completely off the traditional biblical text, but no sources are given for adult readers to check the accuracy of the claim. And even if I were convinced that the claim was accurate (which I am not), it's still missing the point- the people at Babel were disobedient, God wanted them spread over the world and they refused. The author seems to deny any disobedience at all in order to push a very heavy handed preachy message, and it's not even necessary to make the point desired. The story could have acknowledged the disobedience and pointed out God wanted people all over the world (diversity!), He did not want them all clustered in one place (homogenously), and He gave them diverse languages to help them do what they were told to do. Same message, told more naturally and without violence to the traditional text. ( )