Virginia HamiltonIn the Beginning: Creation Stories from Around the World

This guided our homeschool creation story main lesson block. I enjoyed reading through all the stories from various cultures, then picked a handful to use for our homeschool.

My children are 12 and 5. Both of them are enjoying learning mythology from other countries. I think it is important to let your child explore other creation stories from around the world.I really enjoyed this book. The pictures are beautiful, the book is very informative and it is objective. I was very surprised to see the Christian creation myth being presented as a story like the rest.I seen other reviews about the book not being a kid book, I disagree. If your child is used to long stories and even chapter books at 5, they will be able to sit for this book. If you have never read those types of books to your child then it will be new to them and you will lose their attention. I would say 12 is probably the perfect age but 5 was very possible. It depends on the child and what their past experiences have been.Overall, buy this book! It's a must have for a skeptics library or for parents who are allowing their children to pick their own path in life.

This book has creation stories from all over the world. It's quite interesting and gets the kids asking important questions.

Let’s start with the high points. This book has wonderful illustrations and keeps the voice of the stories different. It also offers a wide selection of stories from all over the world. These are followed by short blurbs about the origin of the story.This worked well as a read aloud with elementary and middle school aged children.One draw back: There is a clear Christian bias. The author has carefully selected stories from many cultures, but how they are presented or the wording occasionally demonstrates the unconscious bias of the author such as when a myth is presented with an conclusion that “It was the man and not the woman who caused people to lose eternal life.” This statement is only necessary, if you view the opposite as the default position. I don’t recall the specific examples (it has been months since I read them), but some of the early tales also seemed to be presented with emphasis or interpretation that seemed not only in contrast to other recountings, but also that pulled them in line with Christian tales or Christian worldview that would not likely have been present in the originals.Christian bias is fairly blatant when you read the two Christian/Jewish creation tale comments. These are written referring to biblical scholars and extensively citing specific text references with attempts at author attribution. This last is absent from all other texts. The references, also do not refer to Jewish sacred texts.The phrase “this wondrous and sacred creation text” and similar language is used when referring only to the Christian texts while others are referenced prominently as myths. The closest phrase used with another myth is the phrase “sacred history of.”These Christian tales are not referenced as a tale type (as many others are), though the author does note that they represent monotheism.

The art work is rich and beautiful, and the stories are presented without bias and without unnecessary interpretation - the short commentary at the end of each story is sufficient. My third grader and I both love this book, and reading the stories together has allowed us to explore questions of creation myths in general and their role in various cultures and religions. The stories show how early people without the benefits of telescopes and scientific equipment constructed mythologies to explain the world around them, often with remarkable similarities between very diverse cultures. This has helped her to place the creation vs. evolution argument in a much better context, and to be able to defend her own emerging opinions on the subject. This book is a great complement to the "Parenting Beyond Belief" books.

Excellent reading material of different cultures of the our world. differing perspectives are very interesting, and one thought i found was that in the beginning was darkness, then the culture would do something and then there was light and dark. I highly recommend a very good read. Haven't quite finished reading.

I bought this book for my 10-year-old daughter. We read it together and she loves it, the stories are beautifully told and it has attractive paintings to illustrate the stories. It is a great introduction to creation stories, and the stories are told with respect to each culture that they originated from.

Our new book of creation stories arrived in perfect condition ready to read a story a day during the summer. For each story, our little one is drawing or modeling an image. This is a wonderful focus for us during home summer camp. I'm glad there's another book to follow this one.