Book Review: God Made You Special

The Berenstain Bears series continued by Mike Berenstain has a new book entitled God Made You Special.  The story follows the Bear Family as they welcome the Bruin family over for a cook out.  An unexpected addition to the group is Tommy- Lizzy Bruin's cousin.  Tommy does not act like the bears expect him to.  While he is the same age and size of Brother Bear, he behaves more like the toddler bear sibling Honey.  Brother and Sister have learned that God loves them and others too.  God has made each person unique and special- and this is very evident in Tommy.  The Bear family, especially Brother and Sister, learn how to enjoy God's gift of making each person unique and special.

What I loved about this book was the way the children treated Tommy.  He was part of the party and games from the beginning.  While the kids had questions, it was never frustrating or angry, just curiosity.  The bear cubs are shown to love on each other, incorporate Tommy into everything they do, and genuinely appreciate Tommy's presence.  Their love and pure of heart joy for each other was so encouraging.  Even though we don't know "why" Tommy is the way he is, we don't need to!  It shows the reader how to simply love and accept how God has created all of us- without needing a label.  I feel this is a great book to introduce and begin conversations with my children on how to treat others who may seem different- but really are just extraordinary gifts.

The only downfall of the book is that the title is so widely known as a tagline from Veggie Tales, that it was hard to get in the mindset of Bear Country.  Even my daughter (age 8) read the title and asked, "wait isn't that from Veggie Tales?"

In the end, this book is a wonderful resource and a great addition to your home library.

*Thanks to book look bloggers for my free copy of the book in exchange for my unbiased review