God Found Us You (HarperBlessings Series)

by Lisa Bergren, Laura J. Bryant (Illustrator)

Overview

A Story About Adoption

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780061131769
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	06/09/2009
Series:	HarperBlessings Series
Edition description:	First
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	63,468
Product dimensions:	10.20(w) x 8.10(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Lisa Tawn Bergren is the author of the children's books God Gave us You and its sequel God Gave us Two, as well as several adult novels. She lives in Colorado Springs, CO with her children and husband.

Laura J. Bryant has provided artwork for numerous children's books, including Where Fish Go In Winter and Other Great Mysteries, and ALA Top Ten Pick for Early Readers, as well as two previous books with author Lisa Bergren, God Gave us You and God Gave us Two. She attended the Maryland Institute of Art in Baltimore, and now lives in West Virginia with her husband.

Editorial Reviews

This is a story of a mother with an unfulfilled heart longing to love a child. The only way she knew to have a complete family was through prayer and faith. So she waited and believed, and seasons changed while she prayed "like crazy" and one day, she believed God would bring a Little Fox for her to love. Finally, her prayers and dreams come true, and Little Fox comes into her life. It is a story he loves to hear over and over…the day he came home. And so, Mama Fox explains to Little Fox how lonely she was before God brought him for her to love. She tells him how she waited and prayed for him, how he would look, and how he would smell. This is a charming story about adoption, when faith and hope are given free reign and the timing is given to God, whose timing is always perfect. The illustrations are perfect for this book: reflecting Ms. Bryant's talents with the detail. Adding to the frivolity of the book is the typeface used on the pages. Reviewer: Debby Willett

Children's Literature - Debby Willett

PreS-Gr 1

In this story about adoption, a little white fox asks his rust-colored mama, "tell me again about the day I came home." She begins by describing how she dreamed of holding him in her arms. Seeing other mothers with their babies, she explains, made her lonely, so she prayed and waited patiently for God to answer her prayers. Little Fox wonders why he couldn't stay with the mother who had him, and Mama assures him that "she must have had very big reasons to give you up." Little Fox's mother promises to be his "forever mama," and tells him she will always celebrate "the day that God found us you." After she tucks him in, Little Fox says his prayers and falls into a contented sleep to dream about the day he came to his cozy home in the big woods. Bryant's delicate illustrations in pastel shades augment the heartfelt message of Bergren's simple story. Scenic paintings portray the loving relationship between Mama Fox and her child, and are framed with decorative flowers, vines, and stars. This woodland tale answers many questions adopted children may ask their parents. Rose Lewis's I Love You Like Crazy Cakes (Little, Brown, 2002) is a more traditional story on the subject.-Linda L. Walkins, Mount Saint Joseph Academy, Brighton, MA

School Library Journal

Bergren and Bryant continue their popular God Gave Us series with this entry that addresses adoption from a religious perspective. The characters are a mother fox with traditional rust coloring and her adopted son, a young white fox. The gentle text tells of the adult fox's longing to become a mother, her long period of waiting and her prayers and faith in God, with the birth mother and her place in the story also gracefully acknowledged. Though the text is lyrical and smooth, the unusual syntax of the repeated refrain "God found us you" interferes with the flow of the story at first reading, though this usage is a focal point of the series. The use of "us" in that phrase is deliberately left ambiguous, as no father fox is shown, making this story suitable for single adoptive mothers or for adoptive families with same-sex parents. Bryant's appealing watercolor illustrations show the tender love between mother and child against soft-focus backgrounds of a cozy forest and with borders of twining vines. (Religion/picture book. 2-5)

Kirkus Reviews