There are several books in this "God Gave Us" series. We've read several and I've always loved the story line and the kids adore the fantastic artistry by Laura J. Bryant.
The illustrations are again gorgeous and contain many conversation starters just from looking at the pictures. The author says the series is geared for ages 2-6 but the story line in this particular book seemed to be better suited for my seven year old. My 5 & 3 year olds loved the pictures but the subject seemed a bit obscure for them.
I'm not sure where to start dissecting. There are several fantastic topics covered in this power packed book. Not only is Jesus the focus of this Easter book, but also the art of "listening with your heart" is broached. I confess I got choked up a bit reading it out loud to the kids for the first time when Little Cub tells her dad:
"Papa, I think I heard God last night."
"You did?" he said, putting his arm around her. "Well that's the best Easter present ever! What'd he say?"
"I love you."
"Mmm, those are good words. Perfect words. And they really are what Easter is all about."
I really enjoyed sharing this book with my family. However, I can't quite say that I loved it. I'm not sure that I can quite pinpoint exactly why that is. Overall it's a great book and I'd still highly recommend it. However, I felt like perhaps there were too many things going on. The story seemed sort of "busy" with lots of topics going on all at once. Easter eggs, Noah's ark, God's rainbow promise, listening with your heart....Again, all fantastic topics, but it just felt like maybe too much of a good thing and it left me struggling to maintain the attention of my younger listeners. Perhaps we just need to read it through a few more times so they can catch on to the story. The author provides a coloring page to go along with it so maybe I'll try reading it while they color their page. That trick often works to keep their attention focused.
You can get more details about the book and read an excerpt here.
I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review I did not receive any monetary compensation for this post. Any opinions expressed are my own.
