I was recently provided these three books for review by the WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group and they were generous enough to provide me with an extra copy of each to give away! Take a look at the books below and leave a comment if you are interested in winning a copy. (I'll be giving them away as a group so if you win, you win all three). Please make sure that I have an email address for you if you enter to win. I'll close comments and draw a winner on Wednesday, December 9.
Treasured: Cigar boxes. Refrigerator doors. Scrapbooks and sock drawers and top shelves. These are the places we store our treasures–the keepsakes that tell the story of whom and what we’ve loved, how we’ve lived, and what matters most to us. God is a collector, too, whose treasures are tucked securely into the pages of his book: a golden bell here, an olive leaf there, a scarlet thread, a blood-stained cloth, a few grains of barley. Each of these saved artifacts reveals a facet of his heart and tells the story of a Father whose most precious possession is…us.
In Treasured, Leigh McLeroy considers tangible reminders of God’s active presence and guides us in discovering evidence in our own lives of his attentive love.
God Gave Us Love: As Little Cub and Grampa Bear’s fishing adventure is interrupted by mischievous otters, the young polar bear begins to question why we must love others… even the seemingly unlovable. In answering her questions, Grampa Bear gives tender explanations that teach Little Cub about the different kinds of love that is shared between families, friends, and mamas and papas. Grampa explains that all these kinds of love come from God and that it is important to love others because… “Any time we show love, Little Cub, we’re sharing a bit of his love.” This sweet tale will warm the hearts of young children as they learn about all the different sorts of love, while the gentle explanations of each provide a valuable opportunity to encourage children to share with others a “God-sized love.”
God Gave Us Christmas: As Little Cub and her family prepare to celebrate the most special day of the year, the curious young polar bear begins to wonder… “Who invented Christmas?” Mama’s answer only leads to more questions like “Is God more important than Santa?” So she and Little Cub head off on a polar expedition to find God and to see how he gave them Christmas. Along the way, they find signs that God is at work all around them. Through Mama’s gentle guidance, Little Cub learns about the very first Christmas and discovers that… Jesus is the best present of all. This enchanting tale provides the perfect opportunity to help young children celebrate the true meaning of Christmas and to discover how very much God loves them.
My thoughts on these books: Treasured is a very interesting book. It takes things (objects) that we see throughout Scripture (for example, an olive branch) and uses that to explain why God treasures it and what we are to learn from it. A little different perspective on some of the symbols of our faith that we see throughout the Scriptures.
The two books by Lisa Bergren, God Gave Us Love and God Gave Us Christmas are in the same vein as her God Gave Us You and God Gave Us Two books. (My girls ADORE her God Gave Us You book.) I'll admit that I didn't find these two books quite as enchanting as her others that we have already read, they are very sweet. My girls love the sweet polar bear cub and the way the Mama Bear (and the Grandpa Bear) explain things is well-done.
Remember to leave a comment if you are interested in winning a copy of all three of these books. :)
