The Story of Noah's Ark (Arch Books)

The Story of Noah's Ark
Arch Books
Written by Jane Latourette
Illustrated by Sally Mathews
Copyright: 1965
Format: Paperback
Status: Not currently in print, but many pre-owned copies are available on Ebay
Conclusion: keep it, fix it if you want


Today I get to review yet another of the many different Arch books in our collection.  As I mentioned in previous reviews, Arch books are a bit of a gamble. There are a lot of really good ones, but there are also some that make pretty bad mistakes.  We've had this one in our collection for many years, but have only read it a few times.  What do I remember of it?  About the only thing I can recall is that there is one set of pages I really hate because it is so difficult to read the words over the top of the image.  But as for the actual content of the book, I don't remember anything about it.  Let's see how it stacks up the real Bible.

The Good Points:

  • This Arch book stays very close to the Bible.
  • The book is written in rhyme, so it is fun for children to read or listen to it.
  • There is a wide variety of illustrations. Some are cute, some are beautiful, and some are a bit boring.
  • This book has the correct timeline in that Noah and his family were on the ark for six months before it landed at Mount Ararat. (However, it does not included that they spent another six months inside the ark on top of Mount Ararat before they left the ark).
  • It also includes the fact that Noah sent out a raven first before he sent out the dove.
  • It also correctly mentions that Noah and his family built and altar after they left the ark.

The Discrepancies:

  • The book only says that Noah brought two of every animal on the ark. It does not mention that Noah had seven pairs of certain animals approved for eating and sacrifice.
  • This book also states that Noah's neighbors laughed at him.  The Bible never mentions his neighbors, though it is possible (or even likely) that they did make fun of him.
  • The Arch book says that Noah searched for the animals in all terrains and led them to the ark. However, in the Bible, God tells Noah that the animals will come to him. (I chose to fix this problem. See below for details)

I'm impressed. This book did a remarkable job in retelling the story of Noah's ark by staying true to the Bible and included many correct details. The only discrepancy that bothers me is the fact that is says Noah searched for the animals.  However, I decided to use my trusty label maker to fix that part. It wasn't a big problem, but it was a super easy fix, so I figured I might as well.  I changed "Noah's search" to "Noah's work"  and later "he led the creatures" to "came the creatures." I'll include that page below so you can see the full text.   I liked this version of Noah's Ark a lot, so I definitely plan to keep it in our library, even if it does have that page I hate because it's hard to read.  I'll even include an extra image below and you can see what I mean.  The publisher, Concordia, recommends Arch books for ages 4-9. I think they work fine for three -year-olds too.






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