Baby Wren and the Great Gift

Sally Lloyd-Jones is one of my absolute favorite children's book authors. She is the author of The Jesus Storybook Bible, a beloved book in our home. I was very excited to see her new release, Baby Wren and the Great Gift. This book did not disappoint and has quickly become a favorite of mine and the kids.

Baby wren lives high in a canyon. She watches the marvelous things that the other animals do and wonders, why can't I do that? Baby wren just isn't sure that she can do anything special. Then, inspired by a beautiful sunset she sings a song of thankfulness and finds her own special talent.

The first time I read this book, the page where she sees the sunset that inspires her song made me a almost tear up.

"and what she saw couldn't fit inside her
it bumped into her heart
it dazzled her eyes
it pushed on her throat
until
the tiny trembling bird
with all her might
sang
by herself
a song."

Have you ever looked at a sunset, or the ocean or something in creation and just been totally at a loss? It really does bump into your heart and push on your throat and makes you cry "thank you Jesus!" Our family loves to hike into this little valley in the mountains. Every time we leave the dense forest and step out high above the beautiful valley it just reminds me again what an amazing creator we have.

Anyways, back to the book. The message here may not be super clear to young children the first read through. It isn't a story that hits you over the head with it's meaning. Personally, I appreciate that about the book. It might take some parental guidance to connect the dots here- baby wren had her own special talent, a special gift that God gave her- just like you were made special and designed with a purpose by God. This is not beyond my five-year old. In fact, we enjoyed talking about some of the ways God made him special and different.

The book is written in such a lyrical way that it is a pleasure to read. The illustrations are really special and fit the book perfectly. They were done by the talented Jen Corace. The book is really lovely just to look at and I often find my children doing just that. I love spotting them cozy in a chair dreaming away while they take in the details of a beautiful book.

I received this book for free in exchange for my honest review.