God Loves Me More Than That

Mackall, Dandi Daley. 2008. God Loves Me More Than That. Illustrated by David Holm.

God Loves Me More Than That is much much better than When God Created My Toes. (In case you're wondering.) What is it about? It's about illustrating how infinite God's love is towards us, his children. "Infinite" is not an easy concept for young children "to get." (Adults can sometimes have a difficult time with it as well.) Yet in God Loves Me More Than That, God's love becomes tangible or easier to grasp. Here is how it begins:

How much love does God have for me?
More than the letters between A and Z.
More than the bumbles in a bumble bee.
God loves me more than that!

It continues,

Tell me, please, is the Lord's love high?
Higher than the moon
in a starless sky!
Higher than a space shuttle flying by.
God loves me more than that!

High, deep, wide, loud, soft, etc.

I didn't love this one. I liked it though. It still seems to fall into the Christian-and-dinky category. Meaning that while the message and intent are good, there are just a few things about the illustrations or the text that limits it from being great. So for the Christian audience, obviously, this one might be well received. And I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to Christian parents. But as someone who has read hundreds of picture books, this one falls a bit short of being great on its own merits. Again, I'm not saying it's bad.

© Becky Laney of Young Readers