God's Very Good Idea

I have been avidly searching for books to introduce my two year old to the Gospel. Most of the materials I found were overly simplistic, cartoonish, or simply mistold Bible stories. Enter “God’s Very Good Idea!” This book simplified the Gospel story in a way that my child could understand without over simplifying! It covers the gospel story: God’s plan, man’s sin, God’s rescue, and His coming again! It’s all there without compromise! The illustrator and author did a marvelous job depicting God’s world as He envisioned: perfect relationship with Him and with one another. The children are happy and playing together and they are enjoying all that God has made in a park. Yet the next page shows the same picture after sin has entered the picture. Sadness, fighting, and stealing are all a few things that are show in this picture. These two contrasting pictures have inspired her to ask so many questions like “Why is she crying?,” “Why is that boy running away with the ball?,” etc. and it has given me the opportunity to talk about sin (an elusive, evading, and abstract concept) in a real, concrete way that makes sense for her age and development. The entirety of the book shows the intentional beauty of God’s design in making us all different yet all in His image as tremendously valuable and worthy because of Christ’s death on the cross! I know that as my daughter grows older she will grow into understanding with this theme as well. Lastly, and by far my favorite thing about this book, it introduced my daughter to Christ’s death on the cross. After reading this she began telling us that “Christ died on a cross.” I love that every time I read this book she is hearing of what Christ has done for us! Overall, this is a very well done book and holds the interest of my daughter now and will be a book she can grow into!

First of all, the artwork in this story is so beautiful and I jump at the chance to buy any book illustrated by Catalina Echeverri. But this is also a great gospel-centered story about how God intended for us to love each other and embrace each other's differences but how sin keeps us from doing that. In times such as these I want to teach my children to be aware of, interested in, and celebrate other's cultures, skin colors, and differences and for them to know that's what God wants from them as well.

I love this book for my littles! I love the diversity on every page, reflecting how each person on earth is made in God’s image! The illustrations are beautiful and every page describes the gospel to my kids in a way they can understand! My son asks to read it every night! Perfect Biblical based book to add to your collection and teach your children not only the gospel but how to love all of God’s creation, because it was God’s perfect idea!

Wow. This book is amazing. The content is well written and the illustrations are beautiful/diverse. It's a great summary of God's story. It helps children understand that God created the world, humans messed up, but God had a plan to redeem humans through Jesus. It also explains that we get to be part of God's kingdom here on earth, if we believe Jesus and enjoy loving God/people. God created beautiful and diverse people, so we get to be part of this beauty. Totally recommend it! ( This book is well made and is in perfect condition. I noticed that some people wrote about the poor quality of the book).

Love this book! Great gospel presentation for kids plus great way to address differences in people while all are created in God's image (some have curly hair, straight hair, lighter skin, darker skin, like to read books, like to ride bikes...). My 3 year old really enjoys it too and catches onto the storyline, meaning, and the bright, well done pictures are engaging for her as well.

This book beautifully connects love of God and love of neighbor. We are made to love God, and therefore to love everyone made in His image. It shows how our different ethnicities and personalities let each of us reflect different facets of God's image. It shows how we distort that image with sin, and how God redeems that image in Christ. What an important thing to teach! This book has good theology, is clearly written and beautifully illustrated. Buy it for your kids! Adults who want to go deeper on this topic might consider "Bloodlines" by John Piper.

This is a favorite in our home! Beautiful illustrations to accompany. I discovered this book when searching for Christian stories on Kinder Book Review. It's a favorite on our home!

This beautifully illustrated and written book is about how God made people in his image to love Him and love each other. But people mess things up and do a really bad job of loving others, especially when others are different from us. The hope of the gospel is super clear in this, and its a book that celebrates diversity as God's good design. Whether you are looking for a book to add to the conversation with your kids about diversity, or if you don't know where to start the conversation, this book is a beautiful and easy place to start!