4 STARS
REVIEW: God Gave Us Family by Lisa Tawn Bergren and art by David Hohn
As someone who is preparing for an adoption, I was excited to read
this book.
It is a sweet story, with magnificent artwork, told through the
eyes of a wolf pup. He wonders why his family looks different than all the
others since he is the only “child.” He notices that some animal families are
small, some big, some have adopted children, some families have parents who are
divorced/separated, and even some children are raised by their grandparents.
But even though the families look different and come in all sizes, the little
wolf pup learns that God is the one that brings families together.
Since children are so curious, and ask lots of questions, I can
see this being a powerful book to use with children (the book’s recommend age
is 3-8 years old) to explain why their family might look different than other
families.
One thing that possibly could have been added is a nod to a single
person, or single couple without children. Because aren’t there many different
ways to define family? The book even says: “Whenever somebody is loving and
caring to another, that’s family.” So couldn’t a couple without children be
considered a family? Every person’s relationship situation is different. Some
people consider life-long friends their family or their church community as
family. There are so many ways to define family. So just know that this book
doesn’t hit on all of them.
Overall, the message is clear
and sweet: God makes each of us a part of His family.
*I received this book for free from Blogging for Books
for this unbiased review.
