A review of Matthew Paul Turner's book, When God Made You, illustrated by David Catrow

People say not to judge books by their covers. This can be true. I bought one of my very favorite books used on Amazon once, and it came with a truly horrific cover. It's actually off-putting. The irony is, the reason that I checked the book out of the library when I first discovered it was because of its different, appealing and interesting cover. I find that I can usually tell if I'm going to like a book by its cover.

Matthew Paul Turner and David Catrow's book, When God Made You, is no exception. You can tell right when you look at it that when God made you it was a happy thing, and that you should be very glad to be you.




The pictures and words in this book really flow together, and Mr. Catrow does an amazing job expressing exuberance and joy and delight. It's almost abstract, but you understand the sentiment. As you can conceive from the front cover, there is a real sense of soaring in the book, even literally depicted. The words are descriptive, and convey the powerful truth that we are known and loved by God. It's a fun reinforcement for children that God made us on purpose, exactly how we are.

Really the only issue I have with this book is that the rhymes don't always flow in a way that feels natural to me. It can make for an occasional hiccup in the reading.

What child, or adult, doesn't need to remember that they are God's? To borrow Mr. Turner's words:

" 'Cause when God made you
and the world oohed and aahed,
in heaven they called you an image of God."

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and I know that I will be reading it to my children many times in the future.

Want more info?

http://waterbrookmultnomah.com/books/537389/when-god-made-you-by-matthew-paul-turner-illustrated-by-david-catrow/

Want to know more about the author?

http://waterbrookmultnomah.com/authors/82928/matthew-paul-turner/

I received this book from Blogging for Books in exchange for my review. This is my honest opinion about the book. 

A review of Karen Salmansohn's book, Open When...Letters to Lift Your Spirits

Everyone likes getting things in the mail. My father once remarked that he even enjoys getting bills, because it means he's alive...or something to that effect; it was a long time ago. Karen Salmansohn's book, Open when...letters to lift your spirits, is like getting twelve letters all at once. And owing to some clever paper folding, you literally get to open them. It's a fun format.

Image Source: http://notsalmon.com/shop/open-when/

Now it just so happened that when I got this book, I was having a "bad day" and "need[ed] to find [my] happy place," letters number one and number two. I read the letters and thought, "Oh bother. I don't feel like being told to perform mental exercises right now." But I kept reading through the other letters (What can I say? I'm impatient. My amended title to Open When is Open When You Feel Like It. Honestly, I feel like the book is worth a read straight through.); by the end of it I was smiling and wanted to show the book to my best friend. So, sometimes the letter you should be opening isn't the letter you think you should be opening (There's a metaphor for life here.).

I enjoyed this book, and I enjoyed the art. It's a watercolory, peaceful, fun sort of thing. My favorite letter is the last letter, "Open when...you want to smile," but I won't go into details, because that would spoil the fun. It's a good note to end on though.

My daughters enjoyed the book too. My two year old even carried it around with her for a few days, because it was her book. So there's an art review from a toddler for you.

The book can get a little bit preachy-advicey at times, but I think that's mostly when you read it in a bad mood - ironically. Don't read it when you're Really Mad...just sort of mad, then you can practice before you try any of the mental exercises. And don't worry that it is going to be a long read, the picture above gives you a really good idea of how the pages go. Overall I enjoyed this book, and it's one I plan on keeping...or at least, one my daughter plans on keeping.

I received this book from Blogging for Books in exchange for my review. This is my honest opinion about the book.