Showing posts with label God Gave Us Love. Show all posts
Showing posts with label God Gave Us Love. Show all posts

02 March 2010

Hello, Goodbye Window


Hello, Goodbye Window
by
Norton Juster and Christ Raschka
children's fiction, ages 3-6
Caldecott Medal winner
http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/caldecottmedal/caldecotthonors/caldecottmedal.cfm
A little girl visits her grandparents often. Each time she sees them looking out the kitchen window waiting for her. Each time, when it is time to go, they look out the window for Mommy and Daddy to pick her up. The affection between the grandparents and the granddaughter is evident and this would be a good book to have at Grandpa's house for when the grandkids come to visit.
The illustrations are scratchy and blurred as if the 3 or 4 year old girl might have drawn and painted them. The focus is on the relationship, not any particular picture. This is an unusual book in that the grandpa is white and the grandma is black. The granddaughter appears to be biracial. In the book it mentions that Grandma is from England.
This book seemed familiar. Upon further examination, I discovered that I read the sequel first - "Sourpuss and Sweetie Pie".
In the back cover the author says he is just warming up to his role as a grandfather and this is his first picture book, although he has been known for many years for his other books for older children.

30 November 2009

God Gave Us Love

God Gave Us Love
by
Lisa Tawn Bergren and Laura J. Bryant
Children's Fiction. Bible lesson. Ages 3-7.
Books in this series are:
God Gave Us You

God Gave Us Two
God Gave Us Christmas

God Gave Us Heaven
God Gave Us Love

Some titles in this series have David Hohn instead of Laura J. Bryant as the illustrator, but the style is the same throughout.

A polar bear cub, Little Cub, and her Grampa are spending time together outside. Grampa gently explains to her that God wants us to be kind and loving in the same way that God is kind and loving to us. Even when Little Cub and her brother and sister are not behaving, God still loves them and so do Mama, Papa, and Grampa.

The pictures show some opportunities for Little Cub to be loving or NOT loving: when otters annoy her; when she is tempted to hit her little brother and sister with snowballs; and when the little siblings are getting in her hair. They also show Grampa, Mama, and Papa being nurturing throughout the story.

This would be a good book for a grandparent to read to a grandchild during a quiet time. It might be a book to buy for Valentine's day and read any day of the year to remind us all of God's love.

http://waterbrookmultnomah.com/

This book was provided for review by the WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group.