Wednesday 9 March 2016

Wonderfully Made: God's story of Life from Conception to Birth

I was delighted to have the opportunity to review Wonderfully Made: God's Story of Life from Conception to Birth by Danika Cooley. This is a new hardback picture book, from Christian Focus, which looks at how a baby is formed and shaped, before birth.

 This book is designed for children from 2 to 11. It is labelled as read aloud from 2-6 and "read myself" from 8-11.  Not quite sure what happened to the seven year olds! It is written as a mother talking to her child and is from a clear Christian perspective.

The Bible is open about life, marriage and physical relationships. As a Christian parent, I want to present information about this part of life to my children but within the context of a Biblical worldview. Wonderfully Made is a help to parents in this task.



The pregnancy is taken on a week by week basis, including that there isn't a baby in weeks 1 and 2. For each week or in some cases, set of weeks, there is a description of the size of the baby, for example, the size of an apple or a peach. There is also detail about development of organs; what the baby would be doing and a little about what the mother will notice, for example,
It felt like I had a little butterfly in my belly.

Each page has a relevant Bible text, taken from the English Standard Version and is illustrated by pictures of a child at the relevant stage of development. The pictures are accessible and clear  but not scary for the squeamish.


I read this book aloud to my younger children aged 7 and 9. The seven year old was particularly impressed with the book and its illustrations. I read the book in one sitting but for younger children, it would probably be better to divide into smaller sections. The design of discussing a week or two at a time makes this easy to do.

What I particularly liked about the book
-there was honesty about conception and a very clear placing of this within marriage. When your dad and I joined together to show the special love we have as husband and wife.  The pictures on the page about conception are of sperm swimming to an egg on one side of the page and opposite some happy children.
-the excitement around a new child and that the glory is clearly attributed to God.
-the comparisons of the size of the baby. A baby the size of a pencil sharpener made me laugh.
-the plentiful illustrations related to the text.
-the detail about development which would especially appeal to a family where a baby is expected.
-the lack of gory detail around birth although acknowledging that it is a difficult and painful process.
-referring to the new birth.

Details that I liked less
- as an ex-doctor, I found the use of the word womb rather than uterus grating.
-use of Imperial measurements. I converted these to kilograms and centimetres for my children although weighing out a similar weight object would have been better.
-we don't use the ESV either at home or church.

Overall, I liked this book and  highly recommend it. (5 stars *****)  In terms of age range, I suggest that it is ideal for the middle of the recommended age range. I think that a two year old might struggle although if it were read slowly and several times in the context of a pregnancy then it might well be useful. This book should be in the library of every Christian family.

Wonderfully Made is available from Christian Focus for £6.99. It is also available on Amazon and from Christian booksellers.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of Wonderfully Made for review purposes. I was not required to give a positive review. The opinions are my own.


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2 comments:

  1. This sounds like a lovely book, Sarah, and I really appreciate you mentioning it. I think my younger two in particular would enjoy it :-)

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  2. Can you tell us more about this? I'd love to find out more details.

    ReplyDelete