Customer Reviews

The Gift of You, The Gift of Me

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This book is a very thoughtful reminder about the virtue of gratitude. It also brings awareness to the wonder and miracle of life and our connection to the environment. It promotes values that are important and does more than simply entertain. The content can spark meaningful dialogues with your children about the things that really matter most in life.

The book also explores adversity and the need to turn inward for guidance when things get tough. This is a good lesson to learn early and The Gift of You, The Gift of Me makes the point that after a storm the sun returns and the whole process of life is a miracle.

The illustrations in this book are colorful and creative. Every other page is a full page water color drawing that convey emotion and has highly symbolic content. Just the thing to spark a young person's imagination.

The book is short and doesn't have a lot of words. However, the words were chosen carefully and are packed with meaning. It is the type of book you can be interactive with and you can uncover layers of meaning with as a child gets older.

I have an upcoming speaking engagement where I am going to read this book to a group of children as a separate part of my speaking committment. I am using it because this book is a good touchstone for talking about the mystery of life, hope and gratitude for the good things in life that so often go unnoticed, especially when adversity hits like physical illness. I think it's perfect for this occasion, but no time is the wrong time to introduce children to an attitude of gratitude for what is good in their lives.

"The Gift of You the Gift of Me" cleverly captures how the little cat Jamile appreciates the really important things in life, especially nature and those we love and those who love us. When difficult times come, Jamile thinks of those really important things, and finds courage and peace of mind. The poignant story of the "Gift of You" makes a wonderful present for young and old alike.

"The Gift of You, The Gift of Me" is a beautifully written and illustrated picture book which offers hope and wisdom. At its center is the little cat Jamile, who each day walks down the lane to visit his "tree friends." He listens to the trees quietly expressing their gratitude for the beauty of nature in a cadence that will sooth and comfort both child and adult alike:

Thank you for
A place of peace
A place of dreams
And a place of sleep

Thank you for the ancient stones
For sand and sea
And a place called home

Such flow is reminiscent of the soothing tone of "Good Night Moon."

"The Gift of You, The Gift of Me" also carries a message of hope. One day, Jamile is unable to visit the trees because of a terrible storm, and he retreats to his home, "tired and cold." Yet even in his sadness, he is able to recall the voices of the trees, and in doing so, he finds not only comfort but also strength and courage. He realizes that expressing our gratitude helps us, and so he is able thank his eyes, his ears, his hands:

Thank you hands,
For reaching out,
Over sadness and over doubt
Toward all that is of wonder.

The book also offers "a secret" that makes us free, which is recongizing what Martin Buber calls the "I-Thou relationship": that "you" are a gift, and so am "I."

An Amazon-Listmania reader/writer has already said that the illustrations are worthy of a Caldecott, and I truly agree. This book is one of the greatest picture books I have seen in a long time.

The desire to give The Gift of You The Gift of Me to my daughters jumped out at me as I was reading it for the first time. I could hardly wait to share it with them. It made me feel so thankful for these women in my life. It is a wonderful gift.

This book is warm and full of hope, even in the middle of a storm. At first glance The Gift of You The Gift of Me appeared to be simply a lovely story-poem, but that impression gave way quickly as the allegory in Jamile's story emerged. This book is filled with unexpected and thrilling depths. In fact, it is a beautifully written testament to the life changing and saving qualities gained by the habit of gratitude. This book is for EVERYONE!

My children and I are so happy to have found and to be enjoying this book! The writer has reminded my children through the book (and me, as well) that there are wonderful gifts upon the earth that almost every human being,universally, may enjoy and drink in..."the ring around the moon at night...the western sky...the air we breathe...a place of dreams and a place of sleep." She connects us with all that has come before ("Thank you for the ancient stones..."), and with feelings that we have all experienced at some time ("the color of joy and the shape of love").

Even death is something understood to be thankful for, in the sense that it is part of the cycle of life, and that death often leads to life which comes after. We all know this to be true. A seed must die in order for a tree to be born. Dead leaves from the fall, nourish the earth and help the plants and flowers to thrive in the springtime. Such wisdom is great for children, especially when they experience the death of a loved one or beloved pet...That there is a larger perspective and a plan, and death is a part of it. Not that it is easy or simple, but it somehow is part of a larger, ongoing process of life that is good. (This is not part of the book, but just even on the simplest level, think what life on this globe would be like if no creature from the dawn of history, and no plant, had ever died but continued to live throughout all the ages of the earth!)

The book points out, without being "preachy," that even toes, eyes, ears, hands, and sweet memories are terrific things we can appreciate while going through hard times! Life does indeed become lonely at times, says Webster, but even when we feel we have no friends, the trees are our friends. They continually give to us, even when we're not noticing this giving.

And, insightfully, Webster adds that during lonely times, "remember to thank your Self, that you have traveled this far along your path and in your heart." Life is indeed often very hard, even for children. Each day that is lived and survived in a tough phase of life can be an act of courage. Webster shows them, and us, that we can give our own souls credit for just going on in the face of adversity - and to realize at the end of a hugely saddening day, that we have indeed accomplished something: we have gotten through it! We have survived it! We are still trying, and have not given up on life. (Shouldn't they have a Girl Scout or a Boy Scout badge for this? The "Survival in Adversity" badge. How important it is for children to learn how to do this because there WILL be adversity in their lives.)

The book neatly sums up its lyric journey through the blessings of life with the following, final things for which to be thankful: "for believing, loving, feeling, seeing, the gift of Earth, the miracle of being." I love that with this book, I can reinforce to my kids what I have been trying to teach them: that life itself is a miracle, and to live in such a beautiful place as Earth, and to be able to know ourselves to be alive and in communion with the Earth, with our fellow human beings, and with our own souls, is a miracle.

Sometimes our eyes can be so focused upon our troubles that we cannot see the positives in our lives. But all around us is a magnificent, marvelous world, and people with whom to share love, and a world full of hope and reasons to give thanks, even if they are not the things after which people so avidly chase: wealth, popularity, admiration and an absence of sadness (from which we run away).

I love that the author is never preachy in this book. Many books for children geared towards the theme of "thankfulness" are "you should" types of books. But this book, written as it is from the perspective of Jamile's thoughts extending themselves in saying "thanks" to the trees, etc., helps to draw children in and brings them to a natural point of gratitude without telling them they MUST be grateful. The book has a comfortable, reflective flow which envelops and welcomes and embraces with acceptance. Children feel completely at home reading this lovely book and relate to Jamile when he is happy and also when he is lonely in the dark in his bed.

A word about the illustrations: we have rarely seen such innovative illustrations in a book. They have a kind of 20th-century art, symbolic feel; yet are, like the text, so warm, embracing and "drawing-in." The colors are vibrant and rich. The little cat is so adorable as he walks around observing nature, becoming carried away by a fast-flowing river, staring up at a vast sky full of stars, hiding under his covers in his bed with front paws just bent over the top edge of the covers, and peeking out of the corner of a lit window of his house at night. Children see themselves in the cat Jamile! This strikes me as a beautiful technique, because the child doesn't feel distanced from the thoughts of the book by illustrations which depict a child very different from himself. The cat Jamile is a "universal" character. We each can see ourselves in Jamile as he walks through the pages of this book, looking at life...pondering...and finally reaching understanding.

As a veteran teacher, I cannot express how grateful I am that a book has hit the shelves that profoundly addresses gratitude -- and in such a thoughtful and artful way! The voice of the author and art from the illustrator are fresh and inspiring. How great that the Society of Illustrators has chosen this book for this 2006 show in New York. This is a beautiful book for all ages.