By Clay Anderson, Illustrated by Natalie Merheb
Swing High, LLC, 2020
Picture Book, 32 Pages, Ages 2-6
“What can our world tell us about God? More than you might think.”
A family road trip can be a different experience for everyone, but when a family with young children take a trip together they seek and see God all around them, and take the time to stop and notice the different aspects of God in his grace, peace, beauty, strength, and power.
Have you noticed the fingerprints of God in the world around you?
Written in lyrical verse, this book doesn’t miss a beat. The delightful text blends perfectly with the illustration. The author and illustrator worked well together to put the story forward and keep it moving, not always easy to do when using a repetitive line on each page but the author has done a superb job with emphasis that never becomes pedantic.
There are messages throughout the book that are matter-of-fact, and it doesn’t burden the reader or listener with weighty concepts that children, and some adults, have a difficult time understanding. Some of the messages will jump out at even the most seasoned reader, “And sometimes the storms are His grace in disguise” is just one of many.
The exuberant joy depicted on the cover of this book is enough to draw any reader to pick it up, and each page is colorful, well executed, detailed, and presented beautifully.
One of the best self-published books I’ve reviewed, the quality of printing is fabulous, the extra content is very well presented, the writing superb, and the author, Clay Anderson, is one of the very few self-published authors whose book has reached the top 500 in books on Amazon.
Whether your child has been brought up in faith or you’re exploring Christianity for the first time, it’s this reviewer’s opinion that this is possibly one of the best books about God, faith, and joy in His creation that you’re going to find.
This I Know: Seeing God In the World He Made by Clay Anderson gets five stars from this reviewer.