When God Made You – A Book Review

I have been wanting to give Teigan’s bookshelf a refresh for quite some time. When God Made You by Matthew Paul Turner and illustrated by David Catrow was recommended by several IG mamas. You can find the book on my Amazon storefront. When I saw the beautiful hard cover book, I quickly put it into my cart.

The whimsical illustrations are beautiful on their own and after reading this book several times I think they also tell a story of their own. It begins with a little girl sitting on a green and white polka dot chair reading a book and little sister off to the side playing on the floor.

Then the little girl runs out of the living room. She goes and brushes her teeth before heading out the door and onto her bike and off to an adventurous day. The adventure begins as she rides through a crowd of people of all different, races, cultures, ages and sizes.  A sad painter catches the little girl’s attention. The girl appears empathetic towards the painter and the dying flower he is mourning. After a few moments of pondering a way to restore the painter’s joy she picks up a paintbrush and begins to paint a beautiful flower. The artist looks content with the image the girl has painted but she doesn’t stop there. She goes on to paint an egg that hatches in the process. The bird is white but she takes her paintbrush and paints the bird. The artist is shocked. The birds take flight and take the artist and girl with them for the ride. They spend the day flying and with every page turn we see day turn to night and then takes us back to the living room where she sitting beside her baby sister reading a book. But, the chair looks different. It is no longer green and white polka dot – it has transformed to a chair with all the adventures of the day painted on it. It makes one wonder whether the little girl was imagining the whole thing and she never left her living room or did she?

The text and the illustrations compliment each other but they definitely stand well on their own. This book gives little ones a very important message that they were created with intention; who they are, their personalities, traits and talents are all intentional and they have a purpose in the world. “An exclusive design, one God refined, you’re a perfectly crafted one of a kind. ‘Cause when God made you, somehow God knew that the world needed someone exactly like you.” With a message like that, our children are sure to spread their wings and fly just like the little girl on the cover. Through playful, rhyme and vivid, fantastical illustrations, When God Made You inspires young readers to learn about their own special gifts and how they fit into God’s divine plan as they grow, explore, and begin to create for themselves. It also made me wonder if I was using all my talents and gifts.