God Gave Us Christmas
by Lisa T. Bergren
|
List Price: Our Price: $4.29 You Save: $5.70 (57%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of God Gave Us Christmas
Book Review: The true meaning of Christmas
Summary: 5 Stars
Children's Fiction, Bible Lessons
ages 3-7
Books in this series are:
God Gave Us You
God Gave Us Two
God Gave Us Christmas
God Gave Us Heaven
God Gave Us Love
Each one stands alone, however.
I see that amazon.com has the author listed as Lisa Tawn for one of these books and Lisa Tawn Bergen for the others, so if you can't find a listing, maybe this is why. I also see that some books in this series have David Hohn as the illustrator and some have Laura J. Bryant. One of them must have started the series and the other replaced the first illustrator. I noticed this because of the words on the cover, but the style and polar bear characters are the same throughout the series.
Little Cub and Mama are polar bears living way up north with Papa and the twin cubs. Little Cub wonders what Christmas is. She thinks it has something to do with presents and Santa Claus. Mama takes her cub on a long tour of the wintry landscape, showing her how all creation declares God's majesty. She explains that God sent Jesus to be the light of the world on that first Christmas day. Jesus is a present for all the world, even grumpy bears. The affection and tenderness of the mother/daughter relationship as Mama gently instructs her child comes through on each page.
I love otters, so as a special bonus I enjoyed the second-banana otters who cavorted in the background throughout the book but didn't say a word.
This book could be used at home or in church to remind children about the true meaning of Christmas.
This book was provided for review by the WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group.
Book Review: Little cub helps teach BIG lessons!
Summary: 5 Stars
I recently had to put my daughter in time out because of God Gave Us Christmas. Why? Because my four year old little stinker enjoyed the God Gave Us Love book so much, that she went into my hidden Christmas stuff to find the other one!
Seriously, I had read her the first book with Little Cub and she knew I had another in the package I was saving for Christmas...so (in her words) she "handled" getting the book "now". I'm afraid I thought it was so cute that I just gave her a little time-out, but allowed her to go ahead and have the book. I must be getting too soft!
Deep down, I was amused that she liked the books so much, and I am glad she has the Christmas book now, for the book will help prepare her little heart for Christmas. Overall, I think the God Gave Us series of books are very well crafted. In the two books we have, I found the tone very uplifting with little cub and her sweet, smart family. The stories/morals are not "dumbed down" for children, but rather, the discussions are very complex. However, Grampa and Mama use logical, concise answers to teach little cubs important life lessons.
On top of the good writing, the illustrations are colorful in a watercolor style and full of details for little eyes to linger on. Em likes the "lots of snuggling polar bears."
As a mom of a four year old, I can say for sure that these two books, God Gave Us Love & God Gave Us Christmas are good choices--And, Mom or Grandmom (maybe Dad??) I say, go ahead and give them the God Gave Us Christmas before Christmas (then add on the other ones)
Book Review: A terrific book for teaching kids what's what about Santa, presents, God, and Christmas
Summary: 5 Stars
Society bombards us with messages about Christmas, from the stores that put out the Christmas merchandise right after Halloween, to the advertisers who would have us believe that we must spend a lot of money in order to celebrate. Lisa Bergren combats those messages in this thoughtful picture book. She asks and answers many of the questions that children have about Christmas and Santa, presented in the context of a family preparing for their holiday celebration.
When her daughter expresses curiosity about Santa and Christmas, Little Cub's mother takes her on a winter trek to "find God and see how He gave them Christmas". Together, they climb mountains, take in the Northern lights, visit glacial waters, watch a beautiful glowing star, and wonder at a tiny flower growing in the snow. Along the way, Little Cub's mother teaches her about God's majesty and power, and His great love for each of us in sending His son.
On one page, Little Cub asks, "Did God give us Santa?" Her mother wisely answers, "Santa Claus reminds us about many good things like generosity and care. But it is God and Jesus that we celebrate most come Christmas." On another, her mother teaches her that "Jesus is a present for everyone, grumpy or happy, mean or kind. God gave us all Christmas." The pages are full of simple, faithful teachings that children can easily embrace.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to remember the message of the Savior at Christmas.
Book Review: Another Excellent Installment in the Series
Summary: 4 Stars
God Gave Us Christmas is a new children's book in the popular series "God Gave Us..." from Lisa Tawn Bergren with art by David Hohn published by Water Brook Press. Is this story, as Little Cub and her family prepare to celebrate Christmas, Little Cub asks questions like "Who invented Christmas?" and "Is God more important than Santa?"
The God Gave Us series of children's books work through questions of faith and practice from the viewpoint of Little Cub and one of her adult family members. In this book, it's Mama's turn to work though the questions.
Many times, children's books are no more than a few colorful pages with a couple sentences each page. Not so with this series though. In fact, many of the pages are so full of information that I sometimes felt it was hard to keep my children's attention while I read through paragraph after paragraph.
That is a minor quibble, though, as my children and I enjoyed the book and its vibrant artwork immensely. The questions Little Cub brought up lead to interesting discussion topics for older children, while younger children seem to easily grasp the theme of the story. As Mama points out, "It is God and Jesus that we celebrate most come Christmas. Was always want to thank God for giving us Christmas."
This book was provided free of charge by the publisher as a review copy. The publisher had no editorial rights or claims over the content or the conclusions made in this review.
Book Review: God did in fact give us...
Summary: 2 Stars
As I prepare to be a dad for the first time (I am told dog ownership doesn't count) I am finding myself around more and more childrens books as we build a little library for our baby girl. Granted it is a nice break for the heady theology (or not so heady) I sometimes find myself reading but it is a whole different world.
The folks at Random House thought I should be further immersed in the kids books so they sent me two books by Lisa Tawn Bergen. "God Gave Us Love" and "God Gave Us Christmas." I suppose both of the titles are perfect as we settle in to the first day of Advent and the message shared in the books is one of a God so loving that he gave himself to us so we might love him and others.
These two books are additions to Bergen's "God Gave Us..." series and the familiar (or not so familiar) polar bears guide us through the tale. The art of the books is done by different artists so while the characters are the same they have a different look to them. But I think the art is the strength of "God Gave Us Love" and "God Gave Us Christmas." I suppose that is what my daughter will pay attention to the most to begin with anyway!
The stories are a bit difficult to follow - but I assume childrens literature is not about logic flow. Overall though the theme of the stories is one we must share with our children and live out in our own lives.