God’s Greatest Gift
Author: Deborah Burch
Picture Book: unpaged
Language: English
ISBN 13: 978-0-9796477-7-2
Publisher: God’s Greatest Gift, LLC
List price: $17.95

Reviewed By: Janice D. Green

Rating:  

I am struggling to write a review for this book. It is lively, engaging, well written and tough enough to endure rough treatment at the hands of young children. Little ones will love this book as at the end they become the star. It will surely become a favorite to many. And it has received a bronze medal through the Independent Publisher Book Awards.

But I have a problem with the underlying theology of the book. According to this author, God’s greatest gift is the child reading the book. I cannot accept this and don’t feel it is good for children to be led to believe they are the center of the universe. God’s greatest gift is his Son, Jesus the Christ.

I value the need for good self-esteem, but this book carries it over the top. Children need honest feedback if they are to have healthy self-concepts, yet our children today are being fed such an inflated diet of high self-esteem that they have lost touch with reality and along with it their sense of responsibility.

Furthermore, from a spiritual perspective, if you tell children they are the center of the universe, how can you expect them to embrace the One who truly is the center of the universe.

Children are among God’s greatest gifts, but not THE greatest gift. There are those who will insist that using the superlative form of great needn’t be taken all this seriously. But somehow that doesn’t seem very professional for a writer either, nor does it value the need for helping a child to understand our language.

I normally opt out of reviewing books that I can’t give a positive review. However, in this situation I agreed to review it and am required to follow through with a review. I accepted the book with the understanding that it was a Christian book, published by a member of the Christian Small Publishers Association, so I must review it accordingly.

I received this book free from the publisher through the BookCrash.com book review program, which requires an honest, though not necessarily positive, review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s CFR Title 16, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”