Oh, no! The man is missing his sheep! The woman is missing her coin! The father is missing his son! Can you help them find what they are looking for? Who Counts? is a creative retelling of three popular parables: the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the prodigal son.

Who Counts? 100 Sheep, 10 Coins, and 2 Sons by Amy-Jill Levine, and Sandy Eisenberg Sasso is a modern version of three of the most commonly told parables of Jesus: The Lost Sheep, The Lost Coin and the Prodigal Son. The up-to-date story and the illustrations makes the story real for today's children. When the others ask why did one sheep count or one coin count, they ask the question many have thought. The idea that everyone counts is simple but very important, especially in this day and age. The story of the Prodigal Son shows that even thought the younger son made a mistake, his father still loved him. It also deals with the issue of taking someone for granted, which he did with the older son. These messages, although taken from the bible do not stress Christianity, but simple valuable lessons for living in this world. If the parent wanted to then talk about the Christian message, they could add that on their own. The note at the end for adults is a wonderful addition. It explains why the authors wrote the stories the way they did and why they did not mention Jesus or God in the stories. I love that anyone could use these stories no matter what their religious belief. I highly recommend this book for families with young children . The publisher generously provided me with a copy of this book via Netgalley.
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I was fascinated by this book. It is a re-telling of the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the prodigal son. I have always had a hard time with the parable of the prodigal son, because I always felt for the brother who remained at home. I understand that the "point" is to celebrate that the lost soul has returned home, but it always seemed so unfair not to recognize the steadfast soul who remained, doing the father's (or Father's) work for so many years. In this re-telling, there is still celebration for the return of the prodigal, but the father also sees how hurt the older son is and says that the family is not complete without both sons.

I also liked the authors' note at the end. According to the note, one author is a Rabbi Emerita; the other author is professor of New Testament and Jewish studies at one university and also professor of Jewish studies at another university. According to Wikipedia, she is also a member of a Jewish congregation. So I think it is interesting that this re-telling of Jesus' parables are by Jewish authors who have a different view of the parables.

I enjoyed the book. I don't have children and I don't teach Sunday School (any more), so I don't have to decide whether to share this with children. But I do plan to pass the book along to my pastor. He & I have discussed my difficulties with the prodigal son parable, so I'm curious to hear what he thinks. ( )

The first story is about a man who has 100 sheep, and looses one, and now his may concern is finding the lost one. The next is about a woman with 100 coins, and then looses one, and the rest of the story is her pursuit of finding the lost coin. As we get to the last story about the man’s lost son returning, we sort of see how loosing one, makes you yearn for its return and thus the man’s rejoicing for the returned one.
What the perfect book examples of the parables, while geared to children ages 4 to 8, older and younger would still benefit.
The story of the Prodigal Son is always a difficult one, but with the showing of how a person yearns for the lost one, it becomes much more clear for little minds, and maybe adult ones.
I received this book through LibraryThing, and was not required to give a positive review. ( )

I have mixed feelings about this book. It's a 3-part retelling of some of the parables of Jesus. Using bright, colorful pictures it tells the story of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the prodigal son. The first two stories are great, the ones about the sheep and the coin. But then on the third story, the lost/prodigal son, it goes kinda sideways. I agree with an earlier reviewer who said they were uncomfortable with the slant it took. In trying to make the third story more like the first two it changes the end of the parable a bit. Story-wise it makes sense, but Biblically it's not a good interpretation. Otherwise I would be able to rate this book much higher. ( )