The Runaway Sheep

by Dan Olson, Craig MacIntosh

Genres: Childrens

36 pages, Hardcover

Published February 5, 2024

About the author

Dan and Lucy Olson spend a lot of time with children—especially their own. Lucy works as a psychologist, and Dan helps kick-start new God-centered schools for children of the city with the Spreading Hope Network. He has illustrated three books for children, including The Girl Who Got Out of Bed. They serve in children’s ministry at church, and live in Minneapolis, Minnesota. This is their first book.

Reviews

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

A parody of The Runaway Bunny with a biblical bent.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The Runaway Sheep" is an homage to "The Runaway Bunny", borrowing its basic format and story structure while changing the meaning of the story. The idea is that the Sheep tells the Shepherd of all the ways he intends to run away, only for the Shepherd to respond how he will follow the Sheep to rescue him. The places to which the Sheep runs roughly traces the storyline of Scripture, showing the narrative thread of redemption history.

But it's a kid's book, right? So let's talk about that.

This resource is great for parents who are looking for a tranquil story to read to their children. It can be a great conversation-starter for discussing the Gospel with your kids. It also features beautiful, occasionally silly illustrations that I really enjoyed.

I'm not the target demographic, but I found myself pondering some of what's here as I thumbed through it. As Lewis noted, "There is no such thing as 'children's literature', only bad children's literature."