Tulsa woman’s book series retells the Bible in poetic couplets

By Carla Hinton Comments 8
Published: October 10, 2009

"This is the true story of how it all began,

God was talking to Himself and came up with a plan.

In six short days when He shouted the command,

Catherine Zoller PHOTO PROVIDED

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Going on

Book signing

Catherine Zoller, author of "The Rhyme and Reason Series: Genesis,” will sign copies of her book at 2:30 p.m. Oct. 17 at Full Circle Bookstore, 50 Penn Place.

Online

For more information about "The Rhyme and Reason Series” or to order the first book, go online to www.catherinezoller.com.

Up popped the stars, the trees, the seas and land.”

Catherine Zoller’s new interpretation of Genesis is different, but all the basics of the biblical book are there.

In her new "Rhyme and Reason” book series, the Tulsan is transforming the Bible into rhyming couplets.

She describes it as "Dr. Seuss meets the Bible.”

The first installment, "The Rhyme and Reason Series: Genesis” (Evergreen Press, $15.99) will be released Thursday. The book will be available at bookstores and on Zoller’s Web site, www.catherinezoller.com.

"It’s a powerful teaching tool for children because they often learn through rhyme and song,” Zoller said. "The whole idea is to get kids and adults into the Bible.”

It’s hard to imagine that the concept of the series was created in the wee hours one morning in 1998.

Poetry of creation

Zoller said she was a wife and stay-at-home mom when she came up with the idea for her series.

She said had been trying to figure out how to tell members of her Bible study group what she had gleaned from their recent exploration of Genesis. At about 3 a.m., a rhyming couplet popped into her head, she said, then others followed: the Creation story, Adam and Eve, Noah’s Ark, the Tower of Babel.

"Since I don’t generally think in two-line rhyming couplets, I thought I better get up and start writing it down,” she said, laughing.

"It all just flowed, and I read it, and the next day the women in my group just went nuts. They loved it.”

Her church friends and her family — husband Jay and two grown children (another son died in 1994) — encouraged her to craft the rhymes into a book.

Zoller said she believes the idea was heaven-sent.

"I don’t know why God picked me to do this; I just feel like this is my call,” she said. "It was the Lord.”

Her goal is to complete all the books of the Bible in the rhyming format. She said the rhymes offer a different way to encourage Bible reading, just as Dr. Seuss’ whimsical rhyming books have captured the imaginations and spurred learning for many generations.

"When I grew up, everybody had (Dr. Seuss’) ‘The Cat in the Hat.’ When I began thinking of this series, that’s what I thought of, was those books,” she said.

Zoller said people often say they don’t read the Bible because they don’t understand it or because it’s intimidating.

"This can be a good tool for new Christians because it helps familiarize them with the Bible and takes away the intimidation factor,” she said.

"I just want to drive people to read the Word of God.”