What do you think?
The Little Boat That Almost Sank: Matthew 14:22-33, Mark 6:45-51 for Children
Softback, ex-library, with usual stamps and markings, in good all round condition.
- GenresChildrensPicture Books
32 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1965
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
September 6, 2025
I first came across the Arch Books at a thrift store. They looked good so I grabbed them. When I told a friend, she explained how much she loved them and that her kids went through them all the time. So I kept my eye out and I’ve grown my collection of titles. I love them too!
The vintage are best. They’re a little wordier but so much more impactful. So I would recommend seeking those.
And something I found out only this year while perusing eBay is that there are vinyl records that go along with the books! Your kids can listen while looking at the pictures. How fun is that!
Ages: 4 - 10
Here’s my carefully curated Bible stories list: watch my reel!
Content Considerations: nothing to note.
**Like my reviews? Then you should follow me! Because I have hundreds more just like this one. With each review, I provide Content Considerations, mentioning any objectionable content I come across so that parents and/or conscientious readers (like me) can determine beforehand whether they want to read a book or not. Content surprises are super annoying, especially when you’re 100+ pages in, so here’s my attempt to help you avoid that!
If you’re considering a book or looking for a new title to read, check out my highly categorized shelves, read my reviews and Friend or Follow me to spiff up your feed with clean, wholesome, living books.
I have an Instagram account that’s pretty bookishly unique too!
The vintage are best. They’re a little wordier but so much more impactful. So I would recommend seeking those.
And something I found out only this year while perusing eBay is that there are vinyl records that go along with the books! Your kids can listen while looking at the pictures. How fun is that!
Ages: 4 - 10
Here’s my carefully curated Bible stories list: watch my reel!
Content Considerations: nothing to note.
**Like my reviews? Then you should follow me! Because I have hundreds more just like this one. With each review, I provide Content Considerations, mentioning any objectionable content I come across so that parents and/or conscientious readers (like me) can determine beforehand whether they want to read a book or not. Content surprises are super annoying, especially when you’re 100+ pages in, so here’s my attempt to help you avoid that!
If you’re considering a book or looking for a new title to read, check out my highly categorized shelves, read my reviews and Friend or Follow me to spiff up your feed with clean, wholesome, living books.
I have an Instagram account that’s pretty bookishly unique too!
May 19, 2019
I really didn't like this retelling of Peter walking on water.
The main lesson of this book is that we need not fear when Christ is near. Throughout the book, the disciples wish Jesus was physically present with them because they were afraid. Then at the end, they say, "When you are with us, we are not afraid." That was the end of the book. Never mind that those particular sentiments are pure speculation on the author's part, but never once does she teach that Christ is always with us in Spirit. Isn't the lesson dawn by the disciples "Truly, thou art the Son of God." That focuses more on HIs Diety and our response to it than this book did.
That combined with the amount of dialogue, thoughts, and actions invented for Jesus and individual disciples made this a book that I can't recommend.
The main lesson of this book is that we need not fear when Christ is near. Throughout the book, the disciples wish Jesus was physically present with them because they were afraid. Then at the end, they say, "When you are with us, we are not afraid." That was the end of the book. Never mind that those particular sentiments are pure speculation on the author's part, but never once does she teach that Christ is always with us in Spirit. Isn't the lesson dawn by the disciples "Truly, thou art the Son of God." That focuses more on HIs Diety and our response to it than this book did.
That combined with the amount of dialogue, thoughts, and actions invented for Jesus and individual disciples made this a book that I can't recommend.
January 21, 2022
It’s not a question of Focus
21/1/22 – Sydney
I got these books back when I was a kid, and I believe we probably picked them up at my parent’s church, which eventually became my church when I was a young adult. Mind you, it is no longer my church for two reasons – I live in Melbourne and the church is in Adelaide, and they also named and shamed one of the leaders when he updated his Facebook profile to say that he was bi-sexual (which basically means that he is gay, but the thing with Christians going to evangelical churches is that they will never admit it on the grounds that in their mind that is much, much worse).
So, this book is based on the story where Jesus goes up onto a hill to pray, and the disciples jump on a boat to cross the sea of Galilee. Anyway, a huge storm whips up (and remembering that a couple of the disciples are fishermen) and all of the disciples are scared shitless. However, Jesus decided to do which Jesus does, and walks across the water. When Peter discovers that it is Jesus, he decides to do a bit of water walking as well, however halfway there he freaks out and starts sinking, and Jesus grabs him and saves him.
The story here is basically that we should keep our eyes on Christ because when we look away bad things happen. That may sound all well and good, but the thing is that even though Peter looked away, Jesus still caught him when he started sinking. This is the clincher with this story in that even if we do look away, and we start to sink, Jesus is still there to catch us. In my mind that is actually really comforting because that tells us that despite the fact that we might do stupid things, Jesus will still protect us. This isn’t the idea that we need to focus on Jesus, though that is a good thing, but that our human nature means that we are more likely than not to look away, and even if we do, God is still there to look after us.
Mind you, one of the things that jumps out from this book is the fact that Jesus and the disciples are white. Look, that isn’t as much of an issue in my mind on the grounds that this has been something that has been the case for a millennia. If you look at medieval and early modern paintings you will notice that they are portrayed in the style of the times. On the other hand, some of the paintings have the surrounding people depicted in the style at the times, while Jesus and the disciples are displayed apart from them.
However, it is an issue when we start dealing with Christian Nationalism, which is a real problem these days and ages. I still remember a woman that would rebuke me whenever I raised the fact that Jesus was from the middle east and that he and his disciples would have darker skin that is normally displayed, claiming that this is being too political. The problem is that a white Jesus is pretty political in my mind.
However, as a kids book, it isn’t too bad, especially since they reference the Bible verses that the story is connected to, as well as having a parent’s section at the end to help parents explain the story to the children. Oh, and I do love the fact that Jesus and his disciples have log hair and beards. In fact, some of them even had Abraham Lincoln beards. It sort of shows you what the style was like at the time this book was written.
Oh, and I also agree with Yibbie’s review in that the focus of the story, in fact the focus of the gospels, in the Bible is the identity of Christ. The problem is that we seem to spend too much time on lessons are are either being read into the story, or isn’t the purpose of the story (or just plain wrong), and forget that the overarching theme of the gospels is the identity of Jesus. In fact, it seems that the most important part of the book has been dropped, and that is the disciples looking at Jesus astoundingly and asking, ‘who is he, that even the winds and the rains obey him’.
21/1/22 – Sydney
I got these books back when I was a kid, and I believe we probably picked them up at my parent’s church, which eventually became my church when I was a young adult. Mind you, it is no longer my church for two reasons – I live in Melbourne and the church is in Adelaide, and they also named and shamed one of the leaders when he updated his Facebook profile to say that he was bi-sexual (which basically means that he is gay, but the thing with Christians going to evangelical churches is that they will never admit it on the grounds that in their mind that is much, much worse).
So, this book is based on the story where Jesus goes up onto a hill to pray, and the disciples jump on a boat to cross the sea of Galilee. Anyway, a huge storm whips up (and remembering that a couple of the disciples are fishermen) and all of the disciples are scared shitless. However, Jesus decided to do which Jesus does, and walks across the water. When Peter discovers that it is Jesus, he decides to do a bit of water walking as well, however halfway there he freaks out and starts sinking, and Jesus grabs him and saves him.
The story here is basically that we should keep our eyes on Christ because when we look away bad things happen. That may sound all well and good, but the thing is that even though Peter looked away, Jesus still caught him when he started sinking. This is the clincher with this story in that even if we do look away, and we start to sink, Jesus is still there to catch us. In my mind that is actually really comforting because that tells us that despite the fact that we might do stupid things, Jesus will still protect us. This isn’t the idea that we need to focus on Jesus, though that is a good thing, but that our human nature means that we are more likely than not to look away, and even if we do, God is still there to look after us.
Mind you, one of the things that jumps out from this book is the fact that Jesus and the disciples are white. Look, that isn’t as much of an issue in my mind on the grounds that this has been something that has been the case for a millennia. If you look at medieval and early modern paintings you will notice that they are portrayed in the style of the times. On the other hand, some of the paintings have the surrounding people depicted in the style at the times, while Jesus and the disciples are displayed apart from them.
However, it is an issue when we start dealing with Christian Nationalism, which is a real problem these days and ages. I still remember a woman that would rebuke me whenever I raised the fact that Jesus was from the middle east and that he and his disciples would have darker skin that is normally displayed, claiming that this is being too political. The problem is that a white Jesus is pretty political in my mind.
However, as a kids book, it isn’t too bad, especially since they reference the Bible verses that the story is connected to, as well as having a parent’s section at the end to help parents explain the story to the children. Oh, and I do love the fact that Jesus and his disciples have log hair and beards. In fact, some of them even had Abraham Lincoln beards. It sort of shows you what the style was like at the time this book was written.
Oh, and I also agree with Yibbie’s review in that the focus of the story, in fact the focus of the gospels, in the Bible is the identity of Christ. The problem is that we seem to spend too much time on lessons are are either being read into the story, or isn’t the purpose of the story (or just plain wrong), and forget that the overarching theme of the gospels is the identity of Jesus. In fact, it seems that the most important part of the book has been dropped, and that is the disciples looking at Jesus astoundingly and asking, ‘who is he, that even the winds and the rains obey him’.
March 17, 2019
I like the telling of the story and the stylized art, though Jesus and the disciples are very white.
August 7, 2026
The simple story of trusting Jesus to provide what is needed in the midst of trouble and storms of life. Grateful for these simple stories to help keep eyes on Jesus.
February 6, 2014
Great stuff!
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews