Sunday schools may want to feature this work in classrooms where young listeners can appreciate the appealing,...
In rhyming couplets, a debut picture book assures young Christian readers that God loves them no matter what while also praising good behavior.
Beginning with the birth of a brown-haired girl, who serves as the lead character, the story tells readers that God whispered his love to them as soon as they were born. In addition, God’s love continues to pour out during milestones: “God loves you when you learn to walk, / God loves you when you start to talk.” The dark-haired girl and her blond brother grow up in the illustrations, accompanied by rhymes that supply two similar ideas (trying something new or singing in a church choir) or link opposing concepts (when you’re happy and when you’re upset). The best rhymes either present comparable ideas (where the pictures don’t contradict the lines of the couplets) or have the girl represent one concept and her brother the opposing one. The book matches “God loves you when you stumble and fall, / God loves you and helps you stand tall” with an illustration of the girl, who has tumbled on the playground and scraped her leg; her brother stands next to her, hand outstretched, offering assistance. In other opposing pairs, only one of the two ideas is depicted, so that glad/mad shows the girl dropping her ice cream on the ground and appearing upset, and blunder/wonder displays an impressive, cartoonish image of the heroine looking with awe at a ladybug that landed on her finger in a daisy-covered meadow. For families seeking a way to introduce the concepts of unconditional love and God’s presence to their youngest children, these comforting rhymes, even when partially in conflict with the pictures, provide an opening for that conversation. The repeated “God loves you” at the beginning of each line drives that idea home, and Laird’s uncomplicated rhymes and rhythms scan well throughout, always feeling natural. Much of the tale happens in the images, as the girl evolves from a tiny baby to a child who sometimes makes mistakes but has a kind spirit (she shares Easter eggs she finds with her brother). While the main characters are white, the picture of a church choir includes a variety of ethnicities.
Sunday schools may want to feature this work in classrooms where young listeners can appreciate the appealing, child-friendly illustrations and simple poetry.Pub Date: Nov. 30, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4808-3907-6
Page Count: -
Publisher: Archway Publishing
Review Posted Online: April 20, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A wondrous, historically grounded Christmas story with vivid images.
This picture book offers a retelling of the Three Wise Men’s journey to visit the newborn Jesus.
Over the Arabian city of Petra, a great star appears in the night sky. The elder Melchior recalls a Jewish prophecy that the star is a harbinger of a great king’s birth. Consulting with his younger peers Balthasar and Casper, Melchior takes this news to Nabatea’s ruler. The king, fearful of insulting the cruel monarch Herod, who apparently has welcomed a new prince, sends the three men to Judea with tributes representing their land’s greatest riches: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And so the Magi begin their journey to greet Jesus, following the “moving star blazing overhead” and finding the newborn king in a small, sparse home. Arroyo’s book seeks to strip the Magi story of the “fictional embellishments” the tale has gained over time, returning the classic Christmas story to a more biblical, historical Bethlehem. These men are not majestic kings from Persia but theologians and star readers bound by the period’s politics. Le Feyer’s Magi are a triumph of representation, a far cry from the usual bland Nativity scenes, pulling beautiful, accurate features and diverse skin tones from the cultural melting pot of Nabatea and Judea. The illustrator makes heavy use of shadows, but the pictures never seem cold or dark. Light, be it from a candle, a star, or the divine, brightens and inspires with the awe of the season.
A wondrous, historically grounded Christmas story with vivid images.Pub Date: Oct. 11, 2022
ISBN: 9781644136201
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sophia Institute Press
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An unremarkable but effective way to inculcate familiarity with standard Christmas iconography
New babies don’t know much about Christmas. This simple board book aims to correct that situation.
The cover art of a smiling white snowman against a bright red background sporting a green-and-red stocking hat, scarf, and gloves invites readers in. Simple stock images, often of toys, one per page, highlight additional objects often associated with secular aspects of the holiday. Each item is shown in its most generic form, embossed and glossy against high-contrast backgrounds. Thankfully, not all the pictures are green and red. The first pages—of a snowflake and ornament—have blue and yellow backgrounds. The next two pictures, of a polar bear and penguin, are odd choices since they really have nothing to do with the holiday. A Christmas tree, angel, present, stocking, reindeer, and “santa” (the last printed in lowercase as if a generic) are more closely associated with the celebration. The angel is a knitted brown doll with a white handkerchief dress. The reindeer is a stuffed animal. Each object is clearly labeled, and an exclamation or question (“Look at her sparkly halo!”) in a smaller font extends the conversation. The final spread reprises all the images except the snowman.
An unremarkable but effective way to inculcate familiarity with standard Christmas iconography . (Board book. 6 mos.-2)Pub Date: Sept. 18, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4654-6867-3
Page Count: 14
Publisher: DK Publishing
Review Posted Online: Oct. 15, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2019
BOOK REVIEW
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