Reading the story of Jonah, Troy Schmidt got an
idea for a whole new perspective on Bible stories.
“I remember reading how much Jonah suffered
and prayed, but I thought, ‘What about that poor
fish?’” Troy says. “I tried to imagine some guy
stuck in my stomach and screaming all night and
thought, ‘That fish deserves some credit.’”
He started thinking about other Bible stories
with animals, and of course Noah’s ark came to
mind. “Noah sends the raven out once to find
land, then, for no explainable reason, switches to
the dove as backup—he had a shot at glory and
missed it. That had to hurt.
“Then I saw that there was a way for the animals
to learn their lessons, too,” Troy explains. “Both
Jonah and the whale learn about surrendering to
God’s will. The raven learns to love others, unlike
the population of mankind that God had to wipe
out. The frog from the story of the plagues in
Egypt sees how much he’s like Pharaoh.”
Troy’s humor is evident just from the titles of
the three books in the series: Hey God, I’m Having
an Awful Vacation in Egypt Thanks to Moses!,
Hey God, I’ve Got Some Guy Named Jonah in My
Stomach and I Think I’m Going to Throw Up!, and
Hey God, Can You Stop the Rain
So I Can Get off Noah’s Stinky,
Smelly Ark? (B&H Kids)
Cory Jones illustrated all
three of the books. “His illustrations
bring a balance of playful
and silly to the serious themes
of the Bible,” Troy says.
While he has a lot of fun with
telling the stories in a silly way,
he is serious about teaching kids
and parents the Biblical lessons.
Every book comes with a parent
page. “I hope parents and
kids enjoy these new spins on
the familiar stories,” Troy says,
“and use them to teach their kids
important Biblical lessons.”