Customer Reviews

God Created

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I am Catholic, my husband is Jewish. We were asked to be the God parents of a baby who is Hindu and Episcopal. What to get her? I found this book and it is wonderful and beautiful and spiritual. None of that "God is a white man sitting on a cloud watching you like Santa". It is simple and respectful of all of nature and all walks of life. There were 3 copies in my book store - I bought all 3 so I could have one for my kids and one for another Baptism. I am going to make this my traditional baptism gift - and I am sure it is good for first communions too.

Luminous, flowing illustrations form the bedrock for this simple and lovely story. God Created takes readers on a delightful journey through the stages of creation. "In the beginning ... Silence. Spirit." What transpires in this book is a feeling of connectedness, between Creator and created, and among all the life forms that inhabit our planet. God created it all. Even "tears and laughter, smiles, frowns, winces, hugs and friendships, too," says author Bozzuti-Jones. He makes the case that nothing is a mistake - that all we can "hear, taste, touch, see, be, or imagine" comes from God. The common refrain is: "and so much more." More than we could ever imagine, or see, or touch. And so ours is a world of infinite possibilities. What an invaluable lesson for children! The author's faith is reflected, simply, reverently, and beautifully, throughout the book.

Jui Ishida's montage-style illustrations reinforce this message: there's no beginning or end to any of them; the eye is drawn seamlessly from image to image. Page after page, the story unfolds. This author isn't in a hurry to tell his story. It's timeless and eternal. The feeling one gets from it is of promise and of peace.

[...]

This is the best children's book I've read. A very spiritual and powerfully religious retelling (the only retelling) of the Creation story that is age appropriate for small children (ages 2+). It truly conveys the emmense love of God for His creation, this and "so much more, so much more." A book to be read by and for children of all ages from 2 - 100. A wonderful gift!

God Created is perfect for Baby's first book as well as on through the grade-school years. It is a thoughtfully-written introduction to the wonders of God as witnessed through all of creation. As a former school-teacher and babysitter...I can see the value of this book as a teaching tool that exceeds this objective too. The superb animations are colorful and detailed. Many hours can be spent teaching baby to identify people...young and old, animals...large and small, and the universe...earth and beyond. There is lots of see-and-say potential as well as letter/sight-word recognition when they get to that stage. I loved that this book implies the connections and relationships of all things through time...that which was...that which is...and that which will be. As the child grows and learns to read it for themselves...the book will yield more and more to them...and they will treasure it! :-)

The profound simplicity of this book is tremendously enhanced by the beautiful illustrations. A must have. This is my gift book to all my friends this year.

This is a nice book, with pretty illustrations and simple flowing text. I agree with other reviewers that it appeals across many religions. But somehow it left me feeling flat. Perhaps my expectations were unreasonably high. I read the same author's "Jesus The Word" and found it very powerful (in fact, I was in tears). "Jesus The Word" is a great book for helping young children develop a more sophisticated understanding of Jesus. "God Created" just didn't add much to a preschool/early elementary school child's understanding of God's role in creation. I enjoyed the creation story in the Bishop Desmond Tutu story bible more, as it gave more insight into God's experience of doing the creating. So, I would evaluate this one as nice, but not essential for a well rounded bookshelf.

although most of the book has mathematics that beyond mortal comprehension it is filled with interesting human insights into the lives of the worlds most famous mathematicians. It shows Fourier somehow, between civil service, law suits, and many other distractions found the time to create great math. After reading the book, I found a new respect for Fourier for spanning old math and new math. If the reader is not a mathematician, the historical is good enough, but if you are advanced in mathematics this is your book.

What comes to mind while paging through the book is - how amazing Stephen Hawking is!

God Created, written by Mark Francisco Bozzuti-Jones and illustrated by Jui Ishida, is
a short poetic text about the things God created - the heavens and the earth, men and women, plants and animals, etc. The book starts like this:

In the beginning. . .

Silence. Spirit.

God created everything.

The heavens, the skies, the air, the rain, the water, the earth.

All the pages are illustrated with vivid paintings of people, plants and animals. These paintings illuminate the pages of the book. The illustrations have a poetic quality, too, as they match the text of the book. For instance: After a list of animals God created, are the words: "God created all these and much more, and much more, so much more." This text is illustrated with swirls of color and light in the background. Then, the illustration flows gracefully into the next page, where there are bright pictures of birds and insects. Except for the first and last pages, all the illustrations are full, two-page spreads.

What I Like: I like the simple language of the text and the beautiful illustrations.

What I Dislike: Nothing.

Overall Rating: Very good. 5 stars.

Christine M. Irvin - Christian Children's Book Review