WHEN GOD MADE YOU

Name: WHEN GOD MADE YOU
Author: Matthew Paul Turner
ISBN: 978-1-60142-918-6

by Matthew Paul Turner ; illustrated by David Catrow ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 28, 2017

Still, books that connect individuality, being beloved of God, and using one’s God-given talents are few and far between,...

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Turner and Catrow celebrate the divine in each person.

“From the very beginning, amid history and time, / you, little one, never left God’s mind.” From facial expressions to the sound of one’s voice, God has it all planned out, according to Turner’s rhyming couplets. Each of us is unique and needed in the world for our God-given gifts; we are reflections of God and God’s hopes for us: that we will be kind, givers and dreamers even during hardships; that we will love one another, etc. Unfortunately, young children may have trouble getting these messages from Turner’s text. Words and word order are often chosen to suit the rhyme and rhythm rather than for understanding, and there is some advanced vocabulary: “ ’Cause God loves you creating, your true self displaying, / when light on the inside through art is portraying. / When you make-believe, the stories conceived, / the heroics, the magic, those tricks up your sleeve.” Catrow’s illustrations are delightful in their bright colors and expressive, brown-skinned protagonist. They take a flight of fancy when the text turns to gifts, however, depicting an extended sequence in which the young girl uses her artistic talents to uplift, the result being an overemphasis on the value of the visual arts over all other talents.

Still, books that connect individuality, being beloved of God, and using one’s God-given talents are few and far between, and with some adult support, this can help fill that gap. (Picture book. 3-7)

Pub Date: Feb. 28, 2017

ISBN: 978-1-60142-918-6

Page Count: 48

Publisher: WaterBrook

Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2017

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES | CHILDREN'S RELIGIOUS FICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
WHAT IS GOD LIKE?
by Rachel Held Evans & Matthew Paul Turner ; illustrated by Ying Hui Tan

- BOOK REVIEW
ALL THE COLORS OF CHRISTMAS
by Matthew Paul Turner ; illustrated by Gillian Gamble

- BOOK REVIEW
WHEN I PRAY FOR YOU
by Matthew Paul Turner ; illustrated by Kimberly Barnes

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LOVE FROM THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR

by Eric Carle ; illustrated by Eric Carle ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 15, 2015

Safe to creep on by.

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Carle’s famous caterpillar expresses its love.

In three sentences that stretch out over most of the book’s 32 pages, the (here, at least) not-so-ravenous larva first describes the object of its love, then describes how that loved one makes it feel before concluding, “That’s why… / I[heart]U.” There is little original in either visual or textual content, much of it mined from The Very Hungry Caterpillar. “You are… / …so sweet,” proclaims the caterpillar as it crawls through the hole it’s munched in a strawberry; “…the cherry on my cake,” it says as it perches on the familiar square of chocolate cake; “…the apple of my eye,” it announces as it emerges from an apple. Images familiar from other works join the smiling sun that shone down on the caterpillar as it delivers assurances that “you make… / …the sun shine brighter / …the stars sparkle,” and so on. The book is small, only 7 inches high and 5 ¾ inches across when closed—probably not coincidentally about the size of a greeting card. While generations of children have grown up with the ravenous caterpillar, this collection of Carle imagery and platitudinous sentiment has little of his classic’s charm. The melding of Carle’s caterpillar with Robert Indiana’s iconic LOVE on the book’s cover, alas, draws further attention to its derivative nature.

Safe to creep on by. (Picture book. 3-6)

Pub Date: Dec. 15, 2015

ISBN: 978-0-448-48932-2

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap

Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2021

Categories:

CHILDREN'S HOLIDAYS & CELEBRATIONS | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE FOOD?
edited by Eric Carle

- BOOK REVIEW
WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE BUG?
edited by Eric Carle

- BOOK REVIEW
MY FIRST I SEE YOU
by Eric Carle ; illustrated by Eric Carle

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ON THE FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN

by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Laura Hughes ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 21, 2016

While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...

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Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.

The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.

While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)