Customer Reviews

God Found Us You (HarperBlessings)

5 star:		(36)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Lisa Tawn Bergren and Laura J. Bryant's successful God Gave Us You has given rise to several other picture books featuring their cute and curious polar bears. But in their newest picture book, Bergren and Bryant introduce us to a new set of characters: A fox mama and her adopted baby.

God Found Us You follows the familiar Bergren format of a conversation between animal baby and animal parent. This time, Little Fox curls up to his mother and says, "Mama, tell me again about the day I came home." Mama says this is her favorite story of all time because "when God found us you, it made me the happiest mother in the world."

Mama Fox explains that she dreamed of Little Fox for a long, long time. She saw him everywhere she went; she prayed and prayed and prayed for Little Fox to come. It was difficult for her to see other mothers with their babies, but she "trusted that God knew you, and knew me, and knew when we'd fit perfectly together."

Little Fox asks: "How come I couldn't stay with the mother who had me?" Mama Fox says she must have had a very big reason to give up Little Fox; she must have believed it was best for Little Fox. "I think she prayed like crazy that you would be safe, Little Fox. I think she prayed for me as much as I prayed for her."

When Little Fox wonders if Mama Fox is his forever mama, Mama Fox assures him she'll be his forever - no matter what. Little Fox is the best gift God ever gave her. Then Little Fox falls asleep, feeling safe and secure, and remembering his mother is the happiest mama in the world.

Throughout, Bryant's illustrations are gentle and sweet, depicting the woodlands and Mama and Little Fox beautifully.

What I Like: Bergren's tone is just right. She and Bryant make is obvious Mama Fox adores her baby, and vice versa. I appreciate how clear it's made that God brought mother and baby together, and how carefully Bergren words the section on why Little Fox's birth mother gave him up. I also love the honesty Bergren displays when she allows Mama Fox to admit how hard it was to wait for her baby. This is a lovely, lovely book that brought tears to my eyes. If you have an adopted child, or know someone who does, this book is really a must have.

What I Dislike: Nothing.

Overall Rating: Excellent.

Kristina Seleshanko, Managing Editor
Christian Children's Book Review

This book is perfect for all types of adoptions. Many books are geared towards international or infant adoptions. We adopted a child through foster care and this book could have been written for us. It is beautiful.

The illustrations in this book are lovely, but we had trouble with its content. If you want your child to know how depressed you felt before you had him/her (for example,the fox parent explains how before the adoption was complete, she felt bad every time she saw a parent who had a baby), and how generally angst-ridden your adoption journey was, then this is the book for you. This book simply has too much information about the parents' difficult emotions for a child who is still picture-book age. There are so many other wonderful adoption books out there; we will not be reading this one to our daughter.

Please pardon the five stars I'm giving my own book; I can't pass up the opportunity. :-) I love this mom's review, above, but wanted to be sure to note that this book isn't just for boys. The little fox is referenced as a "he" but I purposely named him Little Fox, so that it would most easily translate to girls as well as boys. In most kids' books, the author chooses a gender for the main character, but that doesn't mean it's meant for just that gender of readers. My hope is that the book will speak to adopted kids everywhere, with a message of abiding, forever love. Blessings on you and your family!

This book is outstanding! One of the best books I've found. My only criticism is that the momma fox said that little fox's birth mama "must have had very big reasons to give you up." This does not fit all adoptions- especially if the birth parents died- however, it's difficult to make a book that fits every adoption perfectly and can easily be changed to fit your story as you read to your child.

This book centers around God working in their lives to bring them together, and I love that!

I reviewed this book before buying it. I always look at the criticisms first and see what they don't like about the book and then contrast them with the positive reviews to help me make a selection. I about didn't buy it because I noticed that others criticized the fact that the book was too "angst ridden". I'm glad I went ahead and purchased it because I don't feel this properly portrays the book at all. Most adoptions DO take a long time. I myself have adopted and I have a network of friends and family who have adopted. One of the negatives was due to the fact the book states "It made it hard to see other mamas with their children" but I feel that this sentence was misunderstood. I think the author was trying to convey that for the mama fox, it was hard to see other's with their children because she knew her baby was somewhere else and not safe with her. Fox couldn't be with his mom and she couldn't be with him as the adoption was being finalized. It has nothing to do with being depressed- just sad that the child couldn't be with his mother and vise versa. I remember feeling this way as I waited for my little boy to come home. It was hard to see others with their children knowing mine was overseas. I didn't know what kind of care he was getting, if he was sick, he didn't know he had a family waiting for him, etc. I wasn't depressed at all, just waiting on the day when I could be like the other families and have my son home with me.

Lastly, adoptions do take a long time and I think the book properly illustrates this point but not in a way that is overkill.

I enjoy reading this book. My husband and I are almost finished with our first domestic adoption and we are working on collecting as many books as possible to read to our new baby. It is a great addition to the collection of books that we have.

I think it's funny when people say that books meant to help explain adoption and the love of everyone invloved to a child don't cover "all sides of the story". I don't think each book is meant to cover every aspect of every adoption story...these books are like puzzle pieces. When you read enough of a variety of them and combine them with the love and affection all children should receive, your child will have no doubt that their forever and birth families love them dearly.

This sweet, beautiful little book so perfectly captures just how emotionally HARD it is for adoptive parents to wait for their child to come home. What I especially like is that it does this not in a "woe is me, it was a pain to wait" sort of way, but rather in a way that tenderly shows to the child just how deeply you (the adoptive parent) yearned for him/her to come into your family -- and how deeply he/she is loved.

When I read this story to my 4-1/2 year old son (adopted from South Korea), he always wants to know why Momma Fox is so sad as she waits, and waits, and waits. Of course, the answer is that she so eagerly yearned for her child to come home -- and this opens us up to talking about our own feelings of how glad we are that he, and his younger sister, are now part of our family.

The story is presented as a favorite bedtime story that Momma Fox tells her little one, so of course we know right from the start that her child WILL come home, and her yearning WILL turn to joy. Nevertheless, when I get to the part of the story when Little Fox finally comes home, it's hard to keep back the tears.

In fairness, if you flat-out don't believe in God, and do not feel that that there is anything supernatural in how adoptive families are brought together, than this is not the book for you. But for anyone else who wants a children's story about the emotions behind the adoption experience, I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

I LOVE this book. We have about 15 or so childrens books about adoption and this is by far my favorite. It expresses true feelings and is very honest. I can relate so well to the things the mommy fox tell's the baby fox about her journey to become a mom. I still cry when I read it. They hit the nail on the head. I really cant say enough great things about the book.

There is a growing corpus of books for children about adoption, and many are boring, sentimental, or oppressively serious. This one is a refreshing change. In a mood similar to Sam McBratney's Guess How Much I Love You, the author presents a goodnight scene between a mother fox and her child. As his mood winds down, Little Fox yawns, "Mama, tell me again about the day I came home." His mother tells a simple story about the longing she experienced as she waited for him. He then asks about his birth mother, and she sensitively gives him answers, appropriate to his age, which acknowledge the tragedy that accompanies adoption and emphasizes that God was at work in those circumstances, planning to bring Little Fox home to her and make her "the happiest mama in the world." Finally, Little Fox asks "Mama, will you be my forever mama?" and she answers eloquently and at some length that he has come to where he belongs, as "the best gift in the whole wide world."

This gentle conversation is very carefully crafted, including both joy and pain for both of its speakers, yet contextualizing the pain within the warm security of a stable, loving home which operates by faith in God's providence for their lives. The story is exceptionally well paced, with each word chosen for maximum effect. Laura Bryant's comforting illustrations support the overall mood of security, acceptance and gratitude. It's appropriate for preschool and elementary ages.

We bought this book for our two adopted sons. The eldest at then 3.5 was able to understand and appreciate the book though his favorite part was seeing if Mommy &/or Daddy would cry while reading it to him - yes, we ALWAYS do! It is just the right tone for younger, just starting to understand adopted children. I think it will be also special for them when they are older. The best part is the non-specific nature of the story. It is perfect for domestic, international, infant, older adoptions.

I read the review with the comment about Papa Fox. Since our sons are not old enough to read, we change it to Papa Fox when Daddy is reading and Mama Fox when Mommy is reading. Sometimes we read the book together and use both Mama and Papa Fox. It is easy to make this change. We have one copy of this that we read and one that we are saving for when they are older. The one that we read is getting a little beaten up! We LOVE this book!