The Gardener and the Vine (Lost Sheep Series)

This book is a delightful book to read. My young daughter loves all the pictures, the bright colours and the clever story. She has remembered from the book that we are the branches and Jesus is the vine and that God is the gardener. It’s exciting to see her learning more about God and his great love for her.

This book is brilliant for kids and adults love to read it too. It is bright and colourful which attracts you to it first but it is so much more. I love how it tells the story of how we become a part of God's family in a way they you can see and understand. Kids get to see Basil's incredible expressions as he goes on the journey of being taken from a scaggly vine and grafted onto a strong vine. It is written and illustrated in such a way that young children can just enjoy that but parents can explain the deeper lesson to older children. I love it and so do my kids and grandkids.

This books is part of a lovely series (lost sheep) and is written by an Aussie. \\nThis book is nice for children of a range of ages. There are a couple of sentences for each double page, so is suitable for young kids but the messages are ones that older kids would really appreciate too. The pictures are very simple but bright and colourful. In short, this books reintroduces Basil the Branch (from other stories) and how the gardener wants to cut him from his current bush, where he doesn't grow any fruit, so he can grow lots of grapes. The simplicity of the trust needed and the important decision to seek a fruitful life is wonderfully translated into this children's story.

I long ago lost track of how many times I've read this book to my kids. They love it! And I do too. It's so simple in many ways, with simple, repetitive language and fun pictures, but beneath the simplicity is such a powerful story about our connection to the vine/God. Absolutely love these 'Basil books' and will happily read them many, many more times. Highly recommend them!