Lost Sheep

by Nick Butterworth, Mick Inkpen (Illustrator)

Uses a modern setting to retell the parable in which Jesus expresses God's concern for those who stray away from Him.

Genres: Christian, Picture Books

26 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

Nick Butterworth was born in London and grew up in a sweet shop in Essex. He worked for various major graphic design companies before becoming a full-time author and illustrator. Among his picture books are Thud!, QPootle5, Jingle Bells, Albert le Blanc, Tiger and The Whisperer, winner of the Nestlé Gold Award. But he is best known for his stories about Percy the Park Keeper, which have sold more than 9 million copies worldwide. Percy has also appeared in his own television series.

Reviews

[Sue Winson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the few books in the amazing "Stories Jesus Told" by Nick Butterworth. I love this set of books, they are easy to read (suitable for very young toddlers), stick to the original Bible story, with really lovely (and sometimes funny) illustrations. It is difficult to find bible stories that are interesting enough for kids, not too preachy, not too boring, and not overflow with unnecessary additional details. The series by Nick Butterworth is just nice. 23-month old little-AJ especially loves this book because they are a lot of sheep in it (he screams "ba ba" every time he sees this book).

A farmer lost a sheep (he has 100 of them). He looked for the lost sheep up and down, everywhere, in the hen house, behind the haystack, under the hedge, up the hills, scrambles over the rocks, crawls through the bramble bushes and being scratched by thorns, until he found the lost sheep. "Hooray, the farmer has found his sleep. Let's all have a party!" I love the picture of three of the sheep raised up their hands and grinned happily (little-AJ immediately raised his hands up and grinned too)

The story ended with a passage from the Bible- "God is like the farmer. He loves us just like the farmer loves his sheep." The last page is an extract taken from the Bible, Luke 15:4-7, about the parable of the lost sheep. I like how the author always link the children story back to the origin.

Overall, this is a very nice book, highly recommended to parents who wish to introduce bible stories to their young kids.

Blog review here: https://storypleasemummy.wordpress.co...

[Abigail Rasmussen · Rating 5 out of 5]

If I search in my head for old, old memories, this book is there. This was one of my favorite books when I was little. I remember loving the part when the farmer found his lost sheep and it says, "Let's all have a party!"

I love reading this book to my little sisters now. The adorable illustrations bring back so many good memories.