The Story of the Tower of Babel (Alice in Bibleland)

 The Story of the Tower of Babel
An Alice in Bibleland Storybook
Written by Alice Joyce Davidson
Illustrated by Victoria Marshall
Copyright 1989
Format: Hardcover
Status: Not currently being printed, but many pre-owned copies available on ebay or in thrift stores
Conclusion: keep



Here is another Alice in Bibleland story.  For those of you not familiar with Alice in Bibleland, it is a set of books told in a rhyming pattern. In each book, Alice goes through her magic book and gets to watch the events of the Bible take place, though she doesn't participate in them. When she returns back home, she summarizes the lessons she learned from her adventures.

The Tower of Babel is a neat story from Genesis that takes place immediately after Noah's flood.  However, I don't see the story put into children's books very often, which surprises me. It seems like a great story that would be very well received by children.

Overall, Alice in Bibleland does a good job with this story and sticks pretty close to the Bible.

The Good Points:
  • The book stays very true to the Bible. The only discrepancies I could find aren't even real discrepancies, they are different interpretations that are backed by Biblical scholars.
  • Like all Bibleland books, the illustrations are really pretty.
  • The story begins with some context to try and set the story in place against other Bible stories.  Once Alice enters her book, it begins with "Noah's family had children, and they had children too. Their grandchildren had children, and the family grew and grew."  
  • It uses the mixed up language to add some humor to the books, and gives funny details like the children misunderstanding the directions to fetch water and going to take a baths instead.
  • I love, love, love the lesson Alice learns at the end. It's a bit surprising because I would assume the lesson would be about pride, but she pulls out another wonderful lesson that I hadn't ever associated with the Tower of Babel before.  See the end of this blogpost for the lesson.
The Discrepencies:
  • First off, there's the discrepancy that all Alice in Bibleland stories have, where Alice goes back in time as a witness. If you dislike the fantasy/time travel aspect, then avoid all stories in this set.
  • I'm not sure this one should be considered a discrepancy, but I felt like it should be noted. The Bible never specifies exactly why the Tower of Babel was so bad. Bibleland does explicitly state that it was because the people were proud and boastful. However, most Biblical scholars agree that the reason God disliked the Tower of Babel was because the people's hearts were not in the right place. Typically they emphasize that the people were relying on themselves instead of God, or that the people were too prideful.  Personally, I'm glad that the author chose to state this outright, even if the Bible does not. It makes the story more understandable for the children, and it is easier for them to comprehend the lesson.  And since it does agree with most Biblical scholars interpretations, I don't believe anything is incorrect about it. I just wanted to point out that the Bible never explains the difference.
  • The Bibleland book says that God spoke to his Angels and that they carried out his commands. In essence, they followed God's commands and they were the one responsible for mixing up the languages and sending the people away.  In the Bible, God's angels are never mentioned in the Tower of Babel story. However, when God speaks, he says "Let US go down and confuse their language," but it never specifies to whom God was speaking. Perhaps he was speaking with his angels. Perhaps it was an indication of the Trinity. Biblical scholars present both arguments, so either way could be correct.
And that is it for discrepancies.  And honestly, none of them seem like anything to be concerned about since one is simply a plot device, and at least some Biblical scholars agree with the other two.

Oh yes, and the lesson that Alice learned that I loved so much?

"When we're blessed to have power,
We should use it not for fame,
Not for pride, and not for glory
Just to have a famous name.
We should use our blessings
In good and loving ways,
And God will smile on us
With more blessings for our days."

So is this book a keeper?  Absolutely. We are happy to have this one in our library. I recommend it for ages 3-8.


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