Not all kids’ books are created equal. Some are sweet, but shallow. Thankfully ‘Penelope Judd’, a new book based on Shai Linne’s song of the same name, tells the truth in story form.

This allegory isn’t just poetic — it’s gospel-rich, visually stunning, and eternally impactful! Penelope’s journey mirrors the Christian walk: hard, narrow, beautiful, and full of hope. It's such a vivid image that helps make the gospel clear to littles one and is also a beautiful story they'll enjoy again and again. It’s a powerful parable of identity, grace, and hope This isn’t just a bedtime story — it’s a Gospel story!

Whether you’re a parent, teacher, or someone planting seeds of truth in little hearts — this book is a must-have. We love it and will be coming back to it for many years to come!

Definitely better with the song, because it's hard to "get" how the rhyming goes otherwise. It's still a little cheesy, but little ones will probably like it with the song.
Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the advance e-copy of this book.
All opinions expressed are entirely my own.

I took the advice in the intro of this book to look up the music track to catch the rhythm of this book. I love a book that brings a song to life and this one is no exception. This allegory is one that I think kids could journey back through over and over to pick up on the symbols and even to see themselves in the story. With vivid illustrations, this story reminds us once again, that no matter how dirty, the king always welcomes us in.

Right off the bat, I want to make it clear that I'm not a religious person in any way. So, a lot of the allegories weren't blatantly clear to me right away. This caused the story to flip to a completely different meaning about halfway through the book, and I found myself feeling a bit disappointed.
Initially, I thought that this book was a cute fairytale-type book, with a story that adds onto the classic tale of Cinderella. However, on the contrary, this is a book about "dirty" people finding religion and becoming pure. Huh. Ok. Basically what I'm saying is that the story's central idea wasn't clear from the beginning when it should have.
Additionally, I feel like this is a weird religious story/lesson to teach to kids. Instead of being inspirational and meaningful, it just ends up coming off as a scary story and a not-so-effective cautionary tale. This is more a story for adults that may have lost their ways, not kids that are just learning about the world around them.
My best piece of advice for this book: keep it as a fairytale. Nothing more, nothing less.