Also by this author: The Moon Speaks, Les Miserables: An Engaging Visual Journey
Published by B&H Kids on May 25, 2021
Genres: Children's
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Children love playing in the dirt, studying the flowers, and marveling at the clouds. The Moon Speaks, a poetic board book for children, ages 0-4, shows that behind the creation kids love so much stands the God who loves them even more! God speaks to us through the mountains, revealing His strength. He speaks to us through the sun, telling of His glory. In fact, everywhere we look in creation, God speaks! A perfect bedtime book, the steady, soothing sounds of the text and gentle, realistic artwork provide a calming, worshipful experience for children right before they fall asleep. But The Moon Speaks is also a book for anytime, helping young readers understand that all of creation is telling us something: God is there, He made the world around us, and He wants us to know Him!
This board book is breathtaking. The Moon Speaks celebrates God’s creation, showing how nature reflects His glory and power. The first page quotes from Psalm 19:1, about how “the heavens declare the glory of God,” and the final page spread quotes from Romans 1:20 about how God’s “eternal power and divine nature” have always been visible through the created world. These verses are the perfect bookends for the art and original text throughout the book, and the book lives up to its goal of rightly displaying and celebrating the joy of God’s character and creation.
Jason G. Duesing’s poetic text is simple and appealing, with well-chosen words and satisfying repetition, and the illustrations from Chiara Fedele showcase a variety of striking nature scenes. Every page is beautiful in its own way, with lavish depictions of different animals and environments during different seasons and times of day. It is hard to choose a favorite page spread, but the one that made me gasp shows an eagle flying above snowy mountain peaks. On every page, the color selections are rich and beautiful, and the text and images celebrate nature’s beauty and its wordless messages about who God is.
The book’s physical design is also very appealing. This is larger than the average board book, and is a great hybrid between a book for toddlers and a book for an older picture book audience. The poem is like a liturgy, with repetition that young children can easily learn and follow along with, and this would be a wonderful choice for family devotions, in addition to being a good bedtime story. This high-quality book will appeal to Christian families, churches, and childless adults who aren’t ashamed to buy gorgeous board books for themselves, and I highly recommend it.
