God Gave Us the World

I love everything that I have ever read from Lisa Tawn Bergren be it children's book, historical fiction or other. I especially love her God Gave Us series. Each book is adorable to boot, but has such a great message that really helps to explain things about God to small children. I love all of these books. I really need to add God Gave Us Love and God Gave Us Two to our collection and then we'll have them all!!

Thanks to WaterBrook Multnomah for providing a copy for review.

This delightful children's story uses a wise mama bear to help her cubs understand- the beautiful world that God has made, full of all types of different bears. They journey across the globe to see bears in different habitats that enjoy different types of foods. The book has a very genuine tone and does not succumb to clichés or cheesiness which many children's stories do. The mama bear also uses excellent imagery to really drive the important messages home.

SPOILER ALERT: : The book also ends on a perfect note, using the example of the God being sad when we don't take care of His earth...just like the brother bear gets frustrated and hurt when his younger twin siblings hurt his toys.

What a sweet little book this is! I thought it would be a kind of fun book to review since we are going to be doing world geography next year for school and I thought this would be a fun introduction to the differences between people living in different places around the world.

It did exactly that! Through the simple idea of using the differences between different types of bears I was able to teach my boys how people living around the world live in a huge variety of ways. We eat different foods. We have different kinds of weather. We talk differently and live at different paces.

The illustrations were sweet, as they are with all these books, and my boys really enjoyed it. And of course I loved that everything ties directly back to God as the creator! I am sure we will return back to God Gave Us the World many times throughout the year and am glad we had the chance to review it!

Mama Bear was walking with her bear cubs and suddenly it began to snow. She told her cubs that each snow flake was different just as every bear was unique. She told them that God was responsible for creating all living things.

Mama Bear revealed to them that there were other bears in the world. She told of the Panda Bear in China, Black Bears in the forest, and Grizzly Bears that had the longest tongues of any bear. The cubs were amazed at all the types of bears that existed. They were curious why the other bears didn't live in the North Pole like they did. Mama Bear explained that as they had their own special home, so did the other bears.

The cubs were amazed to learn of other bears in existence. That night they dreamed of all the wonders of the world that God created. They knew they all shared a special bond, for they were all loved by God.

God Gave Us The World is a beautifully illustrated book that has a way that reaches out and touches you heart. Children will be amazed to learn that God is the creator of all things living. This book is truly a wonderful teaching tool that provides the perfect introduction to discover God the creator.

I was recently sent a copy of God Gave Us the World by Lisa Tawn Bergren from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group. (I've written about two of her other books here.) This story is in the same vein as her other books in this series - a little polar bear poses a fairly significant theological question to Mama Bear and the resulting answer and dialogue is this book. In God Gave Us the World, Little Bear asks his mama if all bears look just like them. This opens the door for Mama to explain about how creative our great God is, not just with all the different kinds of bears, but also the different environments around the world in which those bears live.

I loved these lines from the book: "...the world reflects God's work. How big, big BIG he is. Goad can do anything. and if he's capable of anything, why would he make us all polar bears?"

This is a wonderful book that would be a very simple resource to open a child's eyes to seeing God's hand all throughout creation. Also, there are a couple lines at the end of the book on taking care of the world that God gave us which gives a nice environmental aspect at a young child's level.

We enjoyed this book and I know we will enjoy it many more times in the future.

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review. Thank you!