I'm an elementary educator by training and children's ministry passionate director, so a picture book that focuses on God's creation, but is a traditional story of a child's adventure- is so me!!
I have to start with the illustrator's work- as it makes or breaks most books. This illustrator I love for children and adults. I can't wait to see a physical book! The artwork in this book is the first standout point. I read an e-version so I can't common on the feel of the book. But the images are texture rich, vibrant colors, a contrast that makes the story look almost 3 d on my screen, and warmth endearing animals, home, and nature.
The author's writing style is child friendly. It has vivid descriptive words to hear and help imagine the tale, uses an adult friendly writing style, with sophisticated sentence structure, yet not too complex for a child to comprehend. The night 'was deep'. is an example of descriptive words chosen. It really makes the story come alive as you hear in the language chosen Niko's full experience- as he kisses his cat goodbye when he heads back to the woods. There are bold words that connect to character, colors, common emotions, sounds of birds, numbers, excitement, and questions, etc.
The story is of opposites, you see images of day and night in his woods, complete with trees, day and night birds, lake, grassy hollow , field, great grandfather rock, farthest fence post, etc. You hear Niko's knowledge that God is big, with him, created his woods as well as the difference between day and night, etc.
It's a rich realistic story that could happen to a child, and if you were to read it aloud and not let your audience see the pictures, you could do a lesson on descriptive words, by having them draw each page as you read, and compare how similar they are to each other's because the author used concrete words. And clearly painted a mental picture. For a younger crowd, you could use this book to teach adjectives, compare/contrast, mediums of art, as well as the rich biblical lessons that the author clarifies and shares with the reader before the book is over. Luke 15 lessons on the parables of the lost fits, as well as making notes about how to think about God in life situations, as Niko recognizes he feels small, but His God is bigger, etc. And pointing out attributes of God. You could extend the learning by writing a further Niko adventure if the train hadn't been found, what he does in the morning, or adventures with a specific animal or plant/tree, etc.
I'm not sure about the size of the font, it seems small on my screen, and I've had kids with wavy letter fonts not recognize words the same or think they can't read it like it's cursive. The print a is a typed a, not the normal learning a, and some children's books are written for early readers with large print and matching handwriting a bit more. Not a pro/con, just something to consider when you choose a book, this isn't one for the little's to read by themselves early on.
I partnered with Concordia to review a e-copy of the book. As an educator, parent, and kidmin person, this book has great value and if I had kids at this stage of life/learning, would be worthy of my purchasing for my home library. I love with an author integrates the walking and talking about Who God is-into a traditional book and does it well with fluent style, great transitions, imagery, and images. It's a quality product. I will likely give it as a gift.
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