The Man Caught By a Fish (Arch Books)

 The Man Caught By a Fish
Arch Books
Written by M. M. Brem
Illustrated by Jim Roberts
Copyright 1967
Format: paperback
Status: Not currently being printed, but pre-owned copies available on ebay and in thrift stores (but other Arch books are currently available for purchase from Concordia Publishing ).
Conclusion: Keep

    Arch Books.  I both love and hate these books, mostly because they are so inconsistent. Concordia Publishing House began publishing Arch Bible stories in 1965 and are still publishing them today. I don't know how many different titles are out there, but I would guess over 100. We personally have 34 in the regularly rotation, plus another few that come out for the Christmas season. In addition, we've probably had another 20+ (at least) that we've owned but didn't keep because they weren't Biblically accurate enough for our requirements.  And that's the trouble with Arch books, some are absolutely amazing and some are completely wrong. So be careful which ones you keep around.

     The Man Caught By a Fish is definitely one of the best Arch Books.  In fact, I think it's the best Jonah story I've found. It does a fantastic job of staying true to the Bible, even more than The Story of Jonah which I previously reviewed.

The Good Parts:

  • This book follows the story of Jonah very well and includes lots of great details that are often overlooked in children's versions. 
  • While the King of Nineveh is never mentioned in the book, one of the illustrations shows him with his head hung in sorrow.
  • This book is both my son's and daughter's favorite Jonah story.  My daughter especially loved the picture where you could see Jonah inside of the fish, like an x-ray (see last image).
The Discrepancies:
  • In this Arch book, while Jonah is in the belly of the fish he prays to God and God responds.  In the Bible, while he prays, no response is recorded other than the Lord ordering the fish to spit him out onto the beach.
  • When Jonah leaves town in this Arch book, it is implied that Jonah didn't know God had decided to have mercy on Nineveh. He just goes outside of the town waiting for God to destroy the town. In the Bible, Jonah complains to God about his mercy for the people.  Then he goes outside of the town to see what would happen.

And that's it!  Imagine, just those two little things.

All Arch books end with a note to the parents.  This particular one emphasizes that Jonah is not just a story about a man who disobeys God and gets rescued when he repents.  It's about Jonah's feelings of superiority and his lack of compassion, which contrasts with God's mercy for all people. It closes by asking parents to help their children see God's love in this story and to help them express God's love to other people.

In conclusion: we've chosen to keep this book for our own personal collection of children's Bible stories. (Of course we would, it's the best I've found!)  Concordia House, who publishes Arch books, recommends them for ages 5-9. I've found that my kids have liked them even as young as 3.




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