The Old Testament Made Easy

by Jeanne Steig, William Steig

Retells stories from the Old Testament in humorous, less-than-reverent verses.

Genres: Poetry, Religion, Humor

64 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1990

Reviews

[Steph Lovelady]

Amusing, playful poetic takes on Biblical stories. It starts like this:

And God Said, "Let Us Make Man"

"All this in just six days," God cried.
"I am supremely satisfied.
Those dainty finned and creeping things,
The ones with hooves, the ones with wings!
This world's divine. Just one thing more--
Two-legged, furless omnivore.
Free will, at least to some degree.
The creature quite resembles me.
It only wants a breath of life;
And then, of course, it wants a wife.
No sooner asked, my boy, than done!
They will afford me hours of fun.
See how they blink, and stretch, and grin.
Now let the comedy begin!"

And it does, from the Garden of Eden to Jonah in the whale. Some poems are quite short: (Unless you like stats/Just skip the begats), others have editorial titles such as "The Story of Joseph (Mercifully Condensed)." My kids aren't that familiar with the Bible and it's important for cultural literacy so I thought this might be a good intro and we read it as our nightly poetry reading over the course of a week and a half or so. I hope some of it will stick. If not, it was fun anyway.

[Edward Sullivan]

Playful retellings of Old Testament stories in irreverant rhymong verse. Illustrations by William Steig.

[Joyce]

a little too much 'sputten' (sacrilege) for my taste.

[Molly G]

Amusing and quotable