Today I present to you my second episode of Mama’s Storytime! I hope you enjoy it!
No time for the video or not in a place where you can turn the sound on? Here’s the written version of my review for So Great a Love by Kristie Wilde:
“Does God really love me?” This delightful children’s book helps little ones understand how God loves them.
Each beautiful, engaging, two page spread is a full color illustration revealing a diffrent aspect of God’s love through a specific animal — God protects you like a mama bear, He wants to cover you like a hen covers her chicks, etc.
The detailed illustrations go beyond the text and explore the animal in it’s natural setting, encouraging imagination, exploration and conversation.
So Great a Love is the second book in the Joyful Creation series.
First of all, I just love the illustrations in this book. The artistry is right up my alley. The author has signed the title page for me and I appreciate the personal touch. I also like the bookmark which features a portion of the illustrations from the Koala page in the book.
The first page of the story begins with a two-page landscape illustration of the mountains and the deserts declaring, “Higher than the mountains and wider than the desert . . . so great is God’s love for you!”
The next two page spread shows a mother hen gathering her newly hatched chicks and compares the hens desire to gather her chicks to God’s desire to gather us.
A page featuring rambunctious bear cubs and two adult bears, including one on its hind legs with little cubs peaking out from behind her, tells the reader, “He will protect you . . . just like a mama bear protects her cubs!”
The koala page is next and tells us about God helping us like the koala helps her young. This is followed by my favorite page depicting a swallow-like bird spreading her wings to cover her baby chicks. The text reads: “He’ll hide you in the storms . . . as the bird hides her babies.”
I love the idea here, that the storms will come, the trials, the troubles, the stresses, the hard parts of life . . . they will come. But God will be with you. He will take care of you. He will lift you up and shelter you (when He thinks it’s wise) within those storms.
As a Christian I don’t believe we’re exempt from life’s trials and troubles, but I think that this book is a reassuring story for children. It tells them that God loves them and will be there for them. It tells them that He will watch out for them like their mom and dad should.
I think this book is a good starting place for parents to have those kinds of discussions with their kids. Discussions that admit there are still going to be storms, but God will be with you through them all.
I really like this book and definitely recommend it. If you have a chance to pick it up . . . I would.
Additional Information (not included in the video):
Other featured animals include a lioness, a camel, and an otter. Breaking from the animal theme, the book also compares God to a shepherd watching over his sheep.
The final page of the book encourages the readers to run to God, promising that, “He will always love you!”
As the mother of a transracial family, I am sensitive to how our Lord is depicted in art of any kind. For those who might wish to know:
The illustration on the final page shows children of all ages running to a man who primarily has his back toward the viewer. Only about 1/4 of his face is shown, but he is illustrated in the typical western depiction of Jesus with pale skin and long, wavy brown hair. (The shepherd mentioned before is depicted similarly.) He is shown lifting a child into the air in a playful manner.
Disclosure of Material: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through the BookCrash.com book review program, which requires an honest, though not necessarily positive, review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. View My Promise To Readers HERE.
