Jake's Brave Night: Biblical Values

by Crystal Bowman, Crystal Bowman

Jake is excited about having his own bedroom, but when it comes time to go to sleep, he is afraid of the dark and afraid of being alone. Jake tries to conquer his fears by turning on the bedroom light. When that doesn’t work, he takes his animals to bed with him. Then he tries crawling under his bed. When none of these methods work, he crawls back into bed and finally falls asleep. The next morning, when Jake tells his parents what happened, they get him a night light and remind him that God is with him all night long. The next night Jake has no trouble falling asleep.

32 pages, Paperback

First published May 22, 2007

About the author

Crystal Bowman is a bestselling, award- winning author, of more than 100 books for children and families. She graduated from Calvin University with a degree in elementary education and studied early childhood development at the University of Michigan. Her writing career began in 1990 as a lyricist for children's piano music. She has written books for popular children's series, such as Little Blessings, BOZ the Bear, Berenstain Bears, and I Can Read! She has also written two books of humorous poetry for children, numerous magazine articles, Bible study materials, and educational resource books. "Writing and speaking can be intimidating because in order to connect with your audience you need to be personal and transparent, exposing what's in your heart and soul. But when readers or conference attendees respond positively to something I've said or written, it is humbling and rewarding all at the same time!"
She is also a professional editor with Reedsy and enjoys helping writers on their publishing journey. Crystal and her husband have enjoyed 53 years of marriage and are the parents of 3 grown children and 8 grandchildren.

Reviews

[Sandy]

Jake's Brave Night is a ZonderKidz Level-2 reader. Jake is used to sleeping in the room with his sister, but now that he's growing up, he has his own bed and bedroom. He does his bedtime routine which includes brushing his teeth, puting on his pajamas, his father reads him a Bible story, and his mother prays for him before bed. But Jake has trouble sleeping. First he's scared of the dark so he turns on the light. Then his stuffed animals have scary shadows so he turns the light back off. Then he feels lonely so he grabs his stuffed animals to sleep with but there's no room. He puts them back up, but tries to sleep under the bed instead. But now the floor is hard and cold. He finally goes to sleep, but he is so tired the next day. His parents talk to him about not being alone in his bed at night because God is always with him, and God never sleeps. The next night Jake is able to sleep peacefully.

It's funny that my son chose to read this when he did. He's going through a phase of waking up scared and lonely during the night for about a month now. I love that Jake's Brave Night incorporates God, prayer, and peace. This story could have easily been fluff. So many of our level-2 readers are just mindnumbingly boring stories. But having a story that encourages faith in God and His protection over us in this way is exactly what children need to be reading.

Jake's Brave Night gets 5 Stars. Have you or your child read Jake's Brave Night? What did you think? Let me know!

[Edward Sojuwa]

This book meant for kids falls under the heading "Biblical Values." Consider yourself therefore warned. A bunny named Jake is sleeping on his own for the first time, only he's scared of being alone in the dark. Next morning he tells his parents his fears. The response: "God is watching over you. God never sleeps." The truth is God never does hear his own snooze alarm. Today's kids are smart enough to see right through the bullshit of using Bible verses as a teaching tool. It's wrong to do so, and I was once a Christian for a long time before reality opened my eyes. There are better ways to conquer fear at night. The Bible is not it. Yea, we walk into the valley of the shadow but we fear no evil, for we have tossed the Bible into the trash dumpster. Where it belongs.
One star
Jake needs another way, another truth, another life.

[Dolly]

This is a good book to read to children who are afraid of the dark. It has a Christian theme and is simple for beginning readers.