Book Review: God Gave Us Angels

This summer, my niece who is now 2.8 years old began dealing with a lot of fear. Her fears range from an utter terror of thunderstorms to a strong uncomfortableness with the dark. Normal fears for a small child yes, but still a quandary for the adults as to how to comfort and instruct her in dealing with them. All summer we have been teaching her to recite scriptures, trust God, and know that we can pray to Jesus about all the things that frighten us and He will care for us, and also to know that God sends His angles to care for us as well.
But how do you explain to a small child what an angel is, looks like, and does??

Enter "God Gave Us Angels" by Lisa Twan Bergren! I was very pleased to see this book show up in my selections for my next review and immediately put in my request.

This book is really charming! The art work done by Laura J. Bryant drives the simple narrative and in soft tones illustrates a 'day in the life' of a baby polar bear and his papa as they discuss the angels that the bunnies told Little Cub about. The doctrine on angles revealed by Little Cub's questions is solid and accurate. I found that the story itself however, was a bit lacking, and could have in fact, used a bit more story. I didn't notice it at first when I first read the book but in reading it to my niece I suddenly found myself adding little descriptions, helping phrases, and many 'papa said' and 'said Little Cub's' to the story because they weren't there to help the story along and smooth the imparting of the theme information.

Though my niece is slightly younger than the recommended 3-8 years old age range she usually does really well with books for many older age ranges. In this case she struggled to keep interest in the story and while I had hoped that this book would really illustrate for her, and capture her imagination as to what angels are like and do she missed a lot of what is great information- do to not being able to keep up with the 'just the facts' style of storytelling.

In the end, I would recommend this book. It is a lovely storyline, and the pictures are beautiful and engaging. Just be aware that this might be a bit easier read for an older child. I hope that as my sweetie grows she will better grow into the story and be able to learn more about how to trust the Creator of all things- angels included!

Final rating: 4

I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review and opinion of the product.