Beautiful Name by Matt Gosselin, il. by Maheen Sana

■ Beautiful Name
■ Author: Matt Gosselen
■ Illustrator: Maheen Sana
■ ISBN-13: 978-0-692-07476-3
■ SRP: $21.99
■ Reviewed By: Janice Green

Rating:   

Walk through a morning with Mo as she progresses from a grumpy angry girl who abuses God’s name to a child who learns to appreciate God and to revere his name and to show it in a loving way. Beautiful Name by Matt Gosselin delivers a biblically sound message designed to teach children what God’s name is, and to use his name in a respectful way.

Maheen Sana’s contemporary illustrations are totally engaging and will help to draw children into the story.

What I like about this book: Valuable biblical concepts are taught as a narrative in a story. Feelings are represented well and the rich illustrations support them well.

What I dislike about this book: While parts of the book get down on a kid’s level – Mo makes several imaginative guesses as to what God’s name might be – too many of the transitions seem contrived as wishful thinking from an adult perspective. Mo transforms from being rebellious and angry when sent to her room, all the way to feeling sorry and praying to God for forgiveness. She prays a prayer that serves as a great example of how to pray, but may not ring true to a child as rebellious as Mo in the story. Mo gets all the answers to her questions in a dream, again with theologically sound information, but not realistic for a child’s dream and ability to recall and understand in a short nap.

Beautiful Name may or may not touch the hearts of the children. Much will depend upon the parent-child relationship as the story is shared to bring out the Spiritual messages it holds. It is strong on theology, but weak on realistically representing a child’s ability to gain so much wisdom in an hour or two.

I give this book three out of five smileys.

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.”