> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://readerswithwrinkles.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # A Children's Bible BOOK REVIEW - URL: https://readerswithwrinkles.com/a-childrens-bible-book-review/ - Published: 2026-11-11T06:57:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-11T06:57:00.000Z - Description: Book Review - Author: Readers with Wrinkles - Tags: Book Reviews, Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Genre: Fiction, Genre: Science Fiction - **Date Published:** 2020 - **Length:** 229 pages—Listening Time: 5 hours 34 minutes - **Genre**: Fiction, Science Fiction, Dystopian - **Setting:** Present day to near future; east coast of the United States - **Awards:** National Book Award Finalist Fiction 2020; James Tait Black Memorial Prize Shortlist – Fiction 2021; The Morning News Tournament of Books Short List 2021; BookTube Prize Fiction 2021; Aspen Words Literary Prize Longlist 2021; The New York Times Notable Books of the Year Fiction 2020; NPR: Books We Love 2020; Chicago Public Library Best of the Best: Adults Selection 2020; The A.V. Club best books 2020; New York Public Library Best Books: For Adults 2020; Esquire Best Books of the Year Fiction 2020; NPR Best Book 2020; Chicago Tribune 10 Best Books of the Year 2020; The Best Books: Book Recommendations from the Multnomah County Library Adults 2020; Time Magazine's Must Read Books of the Year 2020; Elle Editors' Favorite Books 2020 - **Languages:** Catalan, Dutch, English, French, German, Portuguese, Spanish - **Sensitive Aspects:** Frequent profanity, homophobic slurs, derogatory language about mental illness, body-shaming, alcohol abuse and drunkenness, drug use, sexual references and adult orgies, parental neglect and child endangerment, violence and physical injuries, torture, armed threats and hostage-taking, animal cruelty, frightening storms and flooding, climate catastrophe and societal collapse, illness and food shortages, religious satire and unconventional interpretations of Christian beliefs - **Movie:** ***A Children's Bible*** is being adapted into a limited television series by the production company SISTER. Sundance Institute alum Tayarisha Poe (Selah and the Spades, episodes of The Twilight Zone) is attached to write and direct the adaptation. - **Recommended for Book Club:** Yes ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/94/9a/949a9f7d-7bf4-49c9-8093-9a1af92098bf/content/images/2026/11/9-STAR.png) Be warned, you may never fully escape Lydia Millet’s ***A Children’s Bible***. However, during my first hour of listening, I wasn’t convinced it belonged anywhere near Readers With Wrinkles. I was skeptical. Was the story really our kind of book? Did I want to spend my listening hours with children who regarded their parents with blistering contempt and adults who weren’t doing much to prove them wrong? I’ve lived long enough to know that a vacation house full of people making questionable decisions isn’t necessarily a vacation. Sometimes it’s just Thanksgiving with better weather. But I kept listening. And then I knew: I HAD to include this book. I wouldn't have been able to sleep at night if I didn't include this book here. Millet begins with families sharing a summer house, where the adults indulge themselves while their children observe, evaluate, and increasingly become self-sufficient. When a devastating storm arrives, that divide becomes something far more consequential than the usual friction between parents and teenagers. The people supposedly in charge aren’t prepared to take responsibility. The children can’t afford that luxury. You can probably see why this stopped feeling like a story about somebody else’s family. In the aftermath of the midterm election revolution, I find myself thinking about where we, as older adults, place our hope. Those of us in the Baby Boomer and Gen X generations—and readers from the Silent Generation, too—have watched enough promises come and go to develop a healthy suspicion of anyone claiming to have all the answers. But suspicion alone isn’t much of an inheritance. We have to find hope in younger generations: in Millennials and Gen Z, in their willingness to question what we’ve accepted, and in the possibility that they’ll govern differently as they take on greater responsibility. Not because youth guarantees wisdom. We were young once, remember? There’s evidence against us. Hope abides in the possibility that a new group of young people can govern with care—and that we can support them without insisting they do everything our way. We have to let go and trust. That’s part of what makes Millet’s novel so unsettling. Its generational conflict asks us to consider what happens when children inherit the consequences of adult complacency. Its biblical echoes and climate-threatened landscape turn that question into something both intimate and enormous. There are so many layers to ponder here: responsibility, denial, faith, love, and the uncomfortable distance between protecting our children and merely believing we would. This isn’t a novel I can tuck neatly back onto a shelf and forget. I won’t soon forget it. In fact, I suspect it will stay with me for the rest of my life. So if your first encounter leaves you wondering whether this book is for you, I understand. Give it a little room. I nearly mistook my discomfort for a reason to stop listening. Instead, it became the reason I needed to keep going. And I am so glad I did. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/94/9a/949a9f7d-7bf4-49c9-8093-9a1af92098bf/content/images/2025/10/BOOK-SUMMARY.jpg) *Spoiler-Free* A sprawling summer house. Several families on vacation. Parents who seem to have confused quality time with an open bar. In Lydia Millet’s ***A Children’s Bible***, the children aren’t just embarrassed by the adults—they’ve largely given up on them. Left to their own devices, twelve young people form a world apart from the parents who are too distracted by their own pleasures to pay much attention. Our narrator is Eve, a sharp-eyed teenager whose affection for her younger brother, Jack, offers a tender counterpoint to her scathing observations of the grown-ups. While Eve sees plenty to distrust in the world around her, Jack becomes fascinated by a picture Bible, finding connections between its stories and the things happening around them. Then a powerful storm transforms an uncomfortable family holiday into something far more threatening. The children must rely on each other for the judgment and protection they should have received from their parents, as the adults are unprepared to help. For Eve, keeping Jack safe becomes the most important task of all. What begins as a darkly funny portrait of family dysfunction develops into an unsettling story about responsibility: who avoids it, who inherits it, and what happens when the people with the least power can see the danger most clearly. Beneath its vacation setting, Millet’s novel explores a widening generational divide in a world whose climate—and familiar sense of order—is coming undone. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/94/9a/949a9f7d-7bf4-49c9-8093-9a1af92098bf/content/images/2025/11/WHY-READ.png) Let me be frank: I’m not recommending this book because I think you’ll have a lovely, relaxing time with it. You might laugh. You might bristle. You might want to argue with it—and possibly with me for recommending it. I’m recommending it because I think it deserves our attention. Especially those of us over 50\. We’ve spent decades watching the world change, raising families, building lives, voting, working, and trying to make sensible decisions with whatever information we had. We also know that good intentions and good outcomes aren’t always the same thing. Millet’s novel presses right into that uncomfortable space. Through its sharp portrayal of adult complacency and young people confronting an endangered world, it asks us to look beyond what we meant to do and consider what we’re leaving behind. That’s not a reason to avoid it. To me, it’s the reason to read it. Here's what makes this book worth your time: #### It asks a question that gets more personal as we get older: What are we leaving behind? Not the good china or the password to the savings account. The world itself. Millet makes the younger generation’s inheritance central to the story, turning an enormous environmental question into something painfully intimate. #### It’s surprisingly funny—and the humor has teeth. Eve’s dry observations and the adults’ absurd behavior provide genuine laughs. This isn’t solemn, finger-wagging fiction from beginning to end. Millet lets you chuckle, then gives you a moment to realize why the joke stings. #### It invites us to listen to younger people without immediately preparing a rebuttal. The children’s anger isn’t simply teenage attitude; it grows from their awareness of dangers the adults would rather sidestep. I think that perspective is especially worth sitting with when we’re tempted to explain how much harder—or better—things were in our day. #### There’s tenderness beneath the outrage. Eve’s love for her little brother, Jack, gives the novel an emotional center. Her desire to protect him makes this more than a story about big ideas. It’s also about the familiar, fierce business of loving someone you can’t shield from everything. #### There are so many layers to ponder. Read it as a family story, a climate novel, a generational reckoning, or a modern biblical allegory. Those layers overlap, opening up questions about faith, science, storytelling, and responsibility. You don’t have to settle on one interpretation and call the job done. #### It gives a book club something better than polite agreement. Were the adults drawn too harshly? Is the children’s contempt justified? Where does responsibility end and blame begin? The novel’s provocative portrayal of the generations offers plenty to debate—and I’d rather have a lively disagreement than twenty minutes of “Yes, I liked it, too.” #### Its hope isn’t wrapped in a reassuring little bow. This is not an optimistic novel in the usual sense. But its young people bring urgency and possibility to a world their elders have failed to protect. For me, that makes its hope more meaningful, not less: it asks something of us rather than simply making us feel better. I don’t believe turning 50 obliges us to become wiser, calmer, or suddenly enthusiastic about sensible shoes. But I do believe we can keep questioning ourselves. That’s why I want this book in our hands. Not because we’ll agree with every page, but because we’re still capable of letting a book challenge us—and, with an open mind, staying long enough to hear it out. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/94/9a/949a9f7d-7bf4-49c9-8093-9a1af92098bf/content/images/2025/03/SIGNATURE-CHAPTER-1.png) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/94/9a/949a9f7d-7bf4-49c9-8093-9a1af92098bf/content/images/2026/11/MILLER.jpg) #### Get Lydia Millet Books Discover Lydia Millet’s ****unforgettable** books, where sharp wit, unexpected tenderness, and humanity’s tangled relationship with the natural world spark stories your book club won’t stop talking about. Bookshop.org was created as a socially conscious alternative to Amazon, with the goal of helping local, independent bookstores thrive. This is why Readers With Wrinkles supports their efforts. Please join us in this effort by purchasing your next read here. [Purchase Lydia Millet Books on Bookshop.org](https://bookshop.org/lists/lydia-millet-books?ref=readerswithwrinkles.com) [Get A Children's Bible autiobook on Libro.fm](https://libro.fm/audiobooks/9781666550085-a-children-s-bible?ref=readerswithwrinkles.com) [Get A Children's Bible on Amazon](https://link.amazon/B0b2ydweQ?ref=readerswithwrinkles.com) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/94/9a/949a9f7d-7bf4-49c9-8093-9a1af92098bf/content/images/2025/04/RECOMMENDATIONS.png) If ***A Children’s Bible*** left you thinking about the world we’re handing younger generations—and reaching for someone to discuss it with—these eight read-alikes offer compelling places to go next. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/94/9a/949a9f7d-7bf4-49c9-8093-9a1af92098bf/content/images/2026/11/leve.jpg) ***Leave the World Behind*** by Rumaan Alam A family’s vacation at a luxurious Long Island rental takes an unsettling turn when the homeowners arrive unexpectedly, bringing news of a widespread blackout. The novel was a finalist for the 2020 National Book Award for Fiction. Like ***A Children’s Bible***, it turns a comfortable getaway into a reckoning with parental helplessness, privilege, and the frightening possibility that familiar protections mean very little. [Get on Bookshop.org](https://bookshop.org/p/books/leave-the-world-behind-a-novel-rumaan-alam/860b7d4b2559cbcb?ean=9780062667649&ref=readerswithwrinkles.com) [Get audiobook on Libro.fm](https://libro.fm/audiobooks/9780063033504?ref=readerswithwrinkles.com) [Get on Amazon](https://link.amazon/B0eBD4EYs?ref=readerswithwrinkles.com) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/94/9a/949a9f7d-7bf4-49c9-8093-9a1af92098bf/content/images/2026/11/new.jpg) ***The New Wilderness*** by Diane Cook In a pollution-ravaged future, a mother takes her young daughter into an experimental wilderness community, where surviving the landscape proves no simpler than navigating their changing relationship. The novel was shortlisted for the 2020 Booker Prize. Readers drawn to Millet’s environmental concerns and generational tensions will find another searching story about protecting children—and discovering that they may adapt to a changed world better than we do. [Get on Bookshop.org](https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-new-wilderness-diane-cook/12848d8d561f7071?ean=9780062333148&ref=readerswithwrinkles.com) [Get audiobook on Libro.fm](https://libro.fm/audiobooks/9780063009127?ref=readerswithwrinkles.com) [Get on Amazon](https://link.amazon/B07jXw8PF?ref=readerswithwrinkles.com) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/94/9a/949a9f7d-7bf4-49c9-8093-9a1af92098bf/content/images/2026/11/parable.jpg) ***Parable of the Sower*** by Octavia E. Butler In a near-future California destabilized by climate change and social inequality, teenager Lauren Olamina confronts a dangerous world while developing a new understanding of faith and community. The novel was nominated for the Nebula Award and named a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. Like Millet’s novel, it places a perceptive young person at the center of an unraveling society and connects environmental catastrophe with urgent questions about belief, leadership, and responsibility. [Get on Bookshop.org](https://bookshop.org/p/books/parable-of-the-sower-a-novel-octavia-e-butler/251d041cc94c99c2?ean=9781538732182&ref=readerswithwrinkles.com) [Get audiobook on Libro.fm](https://libro.fm/audiobooks/9781440761577?ref=readerswithwrinkles.com) [Get on Amazon](https://link.amazon/B08OPmxMX?ref=readerswithwrinkles.com) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/94/9a/949a9f7d-7bf4-49c9-8093-9a1af92098bf/content/images/2026/11/station.jpg) ***Station Eleven*** by Emily St. John Mandel After a devastating pandemic, a traveling troupe of actors and musicians performs for scattered settlements, preserving art and human connection in a radically altered world. The novel won the Arthur C. Clarke Award and was a finalist for both the National Book Award and the PEN/Faulkner Award. If you valued Millet’s exploration of what remains meaningful when ordinary life falls apart, Mandel offers an emotionally rich companion about storytelling, community, and the stubborn persistence of hope. [Get on Bookshop.org](https://bookshop.org/p/books/station-eleven-a-novel-national-book-award-finalist-emily-st-john-mandel/0e96a86b5246b32c?ean=9780804172448&ref=readerswithwrinkles.com) [Get audiobook on Libro.fm](https://libro.fm/audiobooks/9780553397970?ref=readerswithwrinkles.com) [Get on Amazon](https://link.amazon/B06Jd5DiH?ref=readerswithwrinkles.com) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/94/9a/949a9f7d-7bf4-49c9-8093-9a1af92098bf/content/images/2026/11/weather.jpg) ***Weather*** by Jenny Offill A librarian juggling family responsibilities begins answering messages for a climate-focused podcast, drawing her deeper into anxieties about political turmoil and environmental disaster. The novel was shortlisted for the 2020 Women’s Prize for Fiction and longlisted for the 2021 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction. Its dark humor and collision of everyday obligations with enormous threats make it a natural next read for anyone who appreciated Millet’s uncomfortable balance of comedy and alarm. [Get on Bookshop.org](https://bookshop.org/p/books/weather-jenny-offill/f460006f50a635be?ean=9780345806901&ref=readerswithwrinkles.com) [Get audiobook on Libro.fm](https://libro.fm/audiobooks/9780525642633-weather?ref=readerswithwrinkles.com) [Get on Amazon](https://link.amazon/B0eFVdXBP?ref=readerswithwrinkles.com) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/94/9a/949a9f7d-7bf4-49c9-8093-9a1af92098bf/content/images/2026/11/overstory.jpg) ***The Overstory*** by Richard Powers The lives of seemingly unrelated people become intertwined through their encounters with trees, drawing them toward a struggle over the destruction of the natural world. The novel won the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and was shortlisted for the 2018 Booker Prize. Like ***A Children’s Bible***, it challenges human complacency about nature, but its broader canvas offers readers a more expansive exploration of ecological responsibility and the consequences of looking away. [Get on Bookshop.org](https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-overstory-richard-powers/e155c5f9d6ae4c60?ean=9780393356687&ref=readerswithwrinkles.com) [Get audiobook on Libro.fm](https://libro.fm/audiobooks/9781501982026?ref=readerswithwrinkles.com) [Get on Amazon](https://link.amazon/B04uY3t9B?ref=readerswithwrinkles.com) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/94/9a/949a9f7d-7bf4-49c9-8093-9a1af92098bf/content/images/2026/11/road.jpg) ***The Road*** by Cormac McCarthy A father and his young son travel through a devastated American landscape, searching for food, safety, and a reason to keep going. The novel won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Although considerably bleaker and without Millet’s satirical humor, it offers a powerful next read for those most affected by her questions about protecting children, preserving goodness, and loving someone through a future you cannot repair. [Get on Bookshop.org](https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-road-pulitzer-prize-winner-cormac-mccarthy/c27e1f023b2090fc?ean=9780307387899&ref=readerswithwrinkles.com) [Get audiobook on Libro.fm](https://libro.fm/audiobooks/9782808033947?ref=readerswithwrinkles.com) [Get on Amazon](https://link.amazon/B06GCW32k?ref=readerswithwrinkles.com) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/94/9a/949a9f7d-7bf4-49c9-8093-9a1af92098bf/content/images/2026/11/gold.jpg) ***Gold Fame Citrus*** by Claire Vaye Watkins In a drought-stricken Southern California, a young couple’s precarious existence changes when they take responsibility for a neglected toddler and set out in search of a safer future. The novel was named a Best Book of the Year by NPR, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, and Kirkus Reviews, among other publications. Its climate-ravaged setting, vulnerable child, and deeply imperfect adults echo Millet’s concerns, making it especially appealing if you enjoyed the uneasy intersection of environmental disaster, caregiving, and the stories people tell themselves to survive. [Get on Bookshop.org](https://bookshop.org/p/books/gold-fame-citrus-a-novel-claire-vaye-watkins/d783ea859ca3c529?ean=9781594634246&ref=readerswithwrinkles.com) [Get audiobook on Libro.fm](https://libro.fm/audiobooks/9780698409682?ref=readerswithwrinkles.com) [Get on Amazon](https://link.amazon/B09EU6r70?ref=readerswithwrinkles.com) --- ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/94/9a/949a9f7d-7bf4-49c9-8093-9a1af92098bf/content/images/2026/11/CHILDRENS-BIBLE-BOOKMARKS-PAGE.jpg) #### A Little Something Extra for Paid Subscribers Every great book deserves a place to be remembered—and now, paid Readers With Wrinkles subscribers can collect a little piece of every review they love. With your paid subscription, you’ll receive exclusive access to free printable bookmark pages created for each book reviewed on Readers With Wrinkles. Simply download, print, and tuck one inside the book you’re reading—or save a few for your next book-club pick, gift, or reread. 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