Clever but irreverent...

I was excited to open another of Dandi Daley Mackall's rhyming books, this one entitled "When God Created My Toes". From head to toe, the book goes through body parts and asks intriguing questions about what it is like when God creates a child. An example is, "When God created my hip, did I hear him say, 'Hip, hip, hooray!'? Did we do a double flip when God created my hip?" The illustrations are soft, fun, and energetic, and pair well with the quizzical nature of the book. And although I can imagine some children asking questions like are asked in the book, I had a bad feeling as I read along, and came to the conclusion that I do not think the book is completely reverent, but rather detracts from God's greatness, awe, and the fact that His thoughts and purposes are much higher than ours. I am glad that the book points to God as the perfect Creator of every part of our being, but we cannot bring God down to a human level. Plus, the illustrations show one instance of a little girl being naughty with her hands, and that is not at all why God created hands! The book does not even speak of the mind, heart, or soul of a child, which is the most important part! I was very disappointed in this book.

*I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

Cute book to prepare for a new sibling!

Are you preparing your child to be a big brother or big sister? If so, I would recommend buying this book from your favorite retailer! God Gave Us Two, yet another in the "God Gave Us" series by Lisa Tawn Bergren, follows little polar bear cub as he peppers his pregnant Mommy with questions about the upcoming arrival. Papa and Mama polar bear reassure their little cub that being a big sister will be great fun, and that a new baby won't change their love for her! "He gave us you. Now he's given us two!" is their frequent refrain to little cub in answer to her worries. I love how this book emphasizes the prayers of parents, as well as the joys of being a big brother or sister! Once again, Laura Bryant illustrates with fun, colorful pictures. Go read this book...there's a surprise ending that I don't want to spoil! *I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

God Gave Us So Much...

God Gave Us So Much is a "limited-edition three book treasury" by Lisa Tawn Bergren. Once again, WaterBrook Press has given us a beautifully bound and illustrated hardcover children's book. The three tales in this treasury, through the eyes of a polar bear family, extol the goodness of God in giving us our world, love, and heaven. In each story there is a good mix of animal science facts, fun elements, as well as biblical truths.

The first book, God Gave Us the World, is definitely my favorite. The polar bears explore their polar bear zoo, and discuss the diversity God has created, and why God has given us our wonderful world. It would be very easy to draw parallels between the story, and human life. In the second book, God Gave Us Love, the polar bear cub and his daddy discuss human and divine love, and how God's love helps US to love even when it's hard. This book seemed a little "surfacey" to me, so it was my least favorite.
I love that the third book, God Gave Us Heaven, helps kids see that heaven will be indescribably better than things on this earth that they love and find comfort from. There is a good bit of the story that touches on biblical concepts, but there are a couple instances that I do not believe are biblically accurate and/or incomplete (related to who goes to heaven, and the gospel message). But if you use the story to help your kids get excited about heaven, and use the Bible to correct the errors/incompleteness, then it is a sweet story.

There is ALOT of dialogue in the stories, and sometimes you can't tell who is talking. I do not like that she used the exclamation "shoot". The wording is simple, fun, and engaging, and yet they throw in vocabulary words like "capable", "faith", and "reunion", which is great! Not only do the stories help children to worship God because of His goodness, but they also teach other godly traits like kindness, selflessness, stewardship, love, and wisdom.

I would recommend the book "God Gave Us the World." You can find the treasury or the individual books on amazon.com. They make great gifts!

*I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review

Dragon and Turtle Friendship...

The Dragon and the Turtle, by Donita Paul and Evangeline Denmark, is a fairy-tale story of godly friendship. The cover photo is a cute picture of the main characters that excites you to open the book and read. Inside you'll find soft but engaging pictures illustrating the story line. In the story, Padraig the dragon goes searching for "creeping bugs" to eat, but instead finds a forlorn turtle who cannot find his home. Instead of pleasing his hungry stomach, Padraig decides to help, and flies away to search for Roger the turtle's description of his home. Each time, it is the wrong house, and Roger tells Padraig a new sensory description of his house to help him find it (i.e. "it smells like cookies and feels like the beach"). There is alot of good repetition of story elements and phrases, as well as those that build on one another (like the descriptions of Roger's house). I was a bit disappointed with the ending to the story. It is a long story, and builds to the point where you imagine a nice twist at the end, but the ending is fairly logical. However, the characters do set forth a nice example of selflessness, friendship, and kindness. The end of the book also has some nice extension activities and discussion, which is very nice.

*I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

Book Review...God's Amazing Love!

God Loves Me More Than That, by Dandi Daley Mackall, is a beautifully illustrated rhyming book, prompting children to think of down-to-earth examples of ways God's love is greater than things on this earth. I absolutely loved this book. The examples given that answer the questions ("Is the Lord's love wide?" or "Just how deep is God's love for me?") are things that kids can relate to and get excited about. The illustrations by David Hohn are colorful but fairly muted, giving the book a gentle calming feel. They are engaging and can prompt good discussions with your little ones. One of my favorite parts in the book is how God's love is "much much softer than a kitten's sneeze". This book is one I read to my 11 month old, but one that preschoolers and young elementary children would enjoy as well. It would be a fun enrichment activity to find Scripture verses that illustrate the book's examples of the depths of God's love.