A blurb on the back of The Pocket Bible Doodle Book (Zonderkidz/Zondervan, January) states, "The story of creation, Noah’s ark, the plagues, and more make this Bible-based collection of doodles fun for everyone." I can’t decide if I should laugh or be offended—the plagues can be fun? Okay…

As the daughter of a Lutheran pastor, I grew up learning Bible stories; there are ways to teach religious tales without resorting to gimmicks. Why has this Christian publisher decided to present the tales in a religious doodle book? Is this a tongue-in-cheek look at the Bible stories? A way to keep kids busy/quiet during the sermon? I really can’t tell.

If the book is actually intended to teach children about the Bible, there are glaring omissions, such as bypassing the creation of Eve and skipping quickly from Jesus’ birth to his death and resurrection, with nothing about his life and his miracles in between. Leaving out important Bible stories and abbreviating others make the tales included confusing to follow despite their chronological order.

Directions instruct children to draw unfamiliar items and situations without any context: "Joseph dreamed that sheaves of grain bowed down to his sheaf. Finish this drawing" and "Naaman was healed of his leprosy after washing in the Jordan River. Finish this scene.” On the other hand, the occasional attempts at modernization ("Instead of traveling with a sack of grain, you might travel with a suitcase. Design your own suitcase here.") are bizarrely out of place.

Other doodles are disturbing, like "God sent ten plagues. Plague number one: The water of the Nile River turned to blood. Complete the scene." And then there's this one: