Sunday, November 4, 2007

Your Special Gift

Max Lucado provides another wonderful tale of Wemmicks in his book Your Special Gift. All the Wemmicks books emphasize the truth of God's love for those He created. Each book explains how God made each of us special, just the way He wanted us to be. This book expands on those truths by exploring the gifts God gives His children.

A bright red package greets Punchinello one morning. He opens it to find a hammer. He loves hammers, but wonders who gave it to him. Several citizens of Wemmicksville receive a package that day. Lucia gets a new paintbrush; the baker a new spoon. Woody's box holds sewing stuff and Splint's box a new guitar. Each brings their gifts to the village hoping to find the giver, but instead encounters a weary, sad-looking family. Their wagon wheel broke as they crossed the bridge. The river washed away their clothes, and the rain soaked their food. They are tired, hungry and dirty. Everyone drops their gifts and rushes to help. Unfortunately, nothing seems to work. Not until they consult with Eli, the Wemmick maker, do they know what to do. "Each of you do the most what you do the best." He encourages them to use their gifts to the best of their ability. When they do that, everything turns out just as it should.

This is the first book of this series not illustrated by Sergio Martinez. David Wenzel steps up to the plate nicely! He continues the work Martinez began with the same creative characters and classic warm colors. His drawings are less sketchy than the previous books making for smoother illustrations.

What I Like: I love this series and this is one of my favorites. It clearly illustrates Ephesians 2:10 which says we were created "to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." (NAS) The book does a beautiful job teaching Christian service and proper use of spiritual gifts. It's a wonderful book!

What I Dislike: Absolutely nothing.

Overall Rating: Excellent!

Age Appeal: 4-8, but I love it, too, and I'm 31!

Publisher Info: Crossway, 2006; ISBN: 1581346980; Hardback; $15.99

Buy it Now at ChristianBook.com for $11.99!

Special Info: Read our reviews of other books in the Wemmicks series or visit the author's website.

4 comments:

Still a work in progress but loving every minute said...

Wow! That is an awesome example of using one of God's gifts to spread the good news to others. What a wonderful book idea! I think I will go out and get a few for my neices and nephews stockings!
Thanks for your review!
Nickole

Tanya said...

Nickole: I'm so glad you found the review helpful. It's an excellent book and I'm sure your nieces and nephews will love it!

If you really like our site, I encourage you to order books through the links we offer. This helps us buy more books to give you more great reviews. :)

Mary Ann said...

I just love Max Lucado books. I am so glad he has both adult and children's stories that help us realize through "HIM" we can accomplish anything! It is amazing that when we seek out our Lord we can find our strengths and talents that we didn't realize we had, and through courage we learn to use those talents in an amazing way. I am sure this will be a story the whole family will enjoy!

Mary Ann

Dionysus said...

This IS a great book. My kids are so very, very different, that they all are already questioning what they are good and bad at. It's hard to explain the gifts we have-even to adults. (Gifts? Hmm, maybe I need the book, too)