God Knows You

God Knows You is a lift-the-flap book written by Julie Clayden, with colorful illustrations by Lizzie Finlay.

Apparently, young George has asked a lot of questions about God's knowledge and shares his new found knowledge with you. He has learned that God knows everything about you. George learns that even though you think you are lost, God knows where you are. When you are playing hide-and-seek, God knows where you are hiding. God goes with you wherever you go, no matter how far away you travel. He knows how many hairs are on your head, even when little sister pulls them out! By lifting flaps on every page, you'll learn more about George and what he hides under his bed (even under his pillow!). Although no one else may know it's there, God knows.

What I Like: Lifting the flaps and the simple text.

What I Dislike: Nothing really.

Overall Rating: Good.

Age Appeal: 2 to 5.

Publishing Info: Zondervan; 2008; Hardcover; ISBN:0310716705: $9.99.

Buy it now from Christianbook.com for $9.99

OR buy it now from Amazon.com for $9.99

Special Info: Read more of our reviews of Julie Clayden's books.

A Little Princess in the Making

If you have a daughter whose swept up in the princess craze, A Little Princess in the Making by Emilie Barnes may be just the book to help teach her good manners.
The book begins by introducing a young girl who calls herself a princess. "Would you like to start your princess training with me?" she asks. Then, every four pages features one attribute: caring for the "castle," being a good friend, meeting strangers and traveling through the kingdom with good manners, being pretty on the inside and the outside, dining, and having a grateful heart. In a conversational manner, our young princess explains the best way to behave, often reminding us what God desires of us in these areas. For example, when discussing caring for the "castle," she says:

"When I'm at home in my castle, I have lots of chances to use the magic kingdom words. I say these words when I need something or when someone does something nice for me or when I do something wrong. (Even princesses goof up sometimes!) And these magic words always work! They make me feel happy, and they make everyone around me feel happy, too. Are you ready to learn them? Here they are -
Please
Thank you
Excuse me
I'm sorry
...And did you know that every princess has a special rule she follows? It even has a royal-sounding name! It's called the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

What I Like: Barnes makes learning good manners fun by incorporating playtime activities many girls enjoy, like tea parties and playing princess. Michal Sparks' watercolor illustrations show lots of fun costumes, and the last two pages of the book are actually paper dolls. (If you don't want to cut up the book, you could easily make color copies of these pages.)
What I Dislike: While the author does a pretty good job of bringing up biblical principles where appropriate, I wish she'd included Bible references and quotes, too. And although the Golden Rule is mentioned a few times, the author never explains that it comes from the Bible. Too, all the girls in this book are conspicuously Caucasian (although I do appreciate that they have healthy figures).
Overall Rating: I've hemmed and hawed whether to give this book a "Good" or "Very Good" review. For my daughter and me, it's somewhere in-between. She likes princess things only somewhat. If your child adores princesses, however, this is probably an ideal book for her.
Age Appeal: 4 - 8
Publisher Info: Harvest House, 2007; ISBN: 0736918558; hardback; $14.99
Buy it Now from ChristianBook.com for $11.99,
OR buy it from Amazon.com for $10.19
Special Info: Some parents will be put off by the mention of "magic" words in this book, as quoted above. Also, there is a boy's version of this book: A Little Hero in the Making."

Butterfly Award

It's always nice to have your hard work recognized. Thank you, Marietta (of The Bookworm's Booklist), for presenting Christian Children's Book Review with a Butterfly Award. We appreciate the honor!

After some thought, we're passing the Butterfly Award on to the following terrific book blogs:

Editorial Anonymous

Novel Journey

and Backstory

Now these blogs will feature the Butterfly Award on their site, and pass the award on to up to 10 other book blogs.

The Ten Commandments for Little Ones

When you're ready to help your children move beyond the most basic understanding of the Ten Commandments, Allia Zobel Nolan's brand new book The Ten Commandments for Little Ones is an excellent choice.

The Ten Commandments are a difficult subject to cover for young children because some of the commandments deal directly with adult issues like adultery and murder. But Nolan does a superb job explaining such issues without becoming explicit. For example, with the sixth commandment, Nobel writes about Cain and Abel:

"Cain became so angry that he sinned by hitting his brother and killing him...Hating, or having bad feelings about someone, is the first step toward wanting to hurt or get back at them..."

For the seventh commandment, she writes:

"When a man and a woman get married, they promise to only love each other, and not to love anyone else in that same special way. Joseph worked for a married man. The man's wife wanted to love Joseph the way she loved her husband, but Joseph said, 'No!' and ran away. You should run away from people who want you to break your promises to God and to others."

In fact, Nolan touches upon a Bible story each time she writes about another commandment, but never fails to shed light on how the commandments fit into a child's everyday life, also.

In addition, she offers an introduction, explaining how the Ten Commandments came about, plus a page of questions to help children "dig deeper" into the meaning of the Ten Commandments, scripture references, a note to parents and teachers, and a two page glossary of terms (like "blessing" and "idol") that might not be familiar to children.

What I Like: Everything! Nolan does a superb job making the Ten Commandments understandable and applicable to children. This is the best picture book I've read on this topic, and I can't recommend it highly enough. The illustrations by Janet Samuel are a terrific addition to the book, showing children of many ethnicities, plus Bible characters, in colorful, cute drawings.

What I Dislike: Not a thing.

Overall Rating: Excellent.

Age Appeal: 4 - 8

Publisher Info: Harvest House, 2009; ISBN: 0736925457; hardback; $14.99

Buy it Now from ChristianBook.com for $11.99,

OR buy it from Amazon.com for $11.69

Special Info: Read more of our reviews of Allie Zobel Nolan's books.

Thank you!

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Again, thank you for your support. All of us here at Christian Children's Book Review wish you a blessed 2009!