Let me start out by saying that I generally enjoy Max Lucado's works. His adult books are easy to read and express common-sense concepts about faith in bite-sized chunks that are easy to chew on and digest. So I was looking forward to reading this to my 7-year-old son at bedtime when I received it. Since it was in e-book format, I turned off the light, snuggled into bed next to him, and turned on the iPad. Cozy, right? Well, on to the book itself...
Just In Case You Ever Wonder is a Christian children's book that looks as if it were meant for young children-- not many words, lots of pictures. But the content is really geared more towards older children. The basic premise of the story is sweet and innocuous enough: told from a parent's point of view, it is a reminder to children that their parents will always be there for them and will always love them. A good message....
... until I got to the part about scary noises at night and seeing monsters in shadows. That bothered me. I can see how such a notion can be planted into a young child's head and cause problems. I get that the idea was to reassure the child that their parents (and God) will love and protect them even when they're scared, but I think better examples could have been used. Not every kid thinks there are monsters under the bed, and maybe now they will!
The book then trails off a bit into the topic of heaven and how wonderful it is. Which is also nice, but seems strangely out of place in a book that starts strongly with the message that a child can turn to his parents and to God for love and support.
All in all, I thought the *overall* message of the book was nice-- "I'm here for you no matter what"-- and that's something I definitely want to impart to my child. But the way this idea was presented felt rather disjointed and disorganized, on top of the use of some poor examples. This probably won't be a book I'll be passing along to anyone as a gift. I definitely think there are better books out there that can present this idea, with better examples and better-flowing content.
Note: I received a complimentary copy of this book through booksneeze.com in exchange for honest feedback about the book. The opinions expressed in this review are solely my own.
