Wherever You Go, I Want You To Know Board Book – Melissa Kruger and Isobel Lundie

Wherever You Go, I Want You To Know Board Book by Melissa Kruger, Isobel Lundie
Also by this author: His Grace Is Enough Board Book, His Grace Is Enough: How God Makes It Right When We've Got It Wrong
Series: Tales that Tell the Truth Board Books
Published by Good Book Company on August 23, 2022
Genres: Children's
Goodreads
four-half-stars

Charming rhyming board book that tells toddlers your greatest aspiration—that they will love and follow Jesus.

With just a few words per page, engaging illustrations and robust board-book format, this charming rhyming book is ideal for toddlers.

Kids love to dream about what they might do when they grow up: jobs they might have, places they might go to, people they might meet. And parents and caregivers love to encourage and support them.

But for Christian parents, their greatest aspiration for their children, their dream of all dreams, is that whatever their kids do and wherever they go, they will love and follow Jesus.

As children embark on life’s journey with all their potential and aspirations, express to them your biggest dream with this beautiful illustrated rhyming children’s book.

As well as teaching children about the only thing that really matters in life, this book also reminds parents that telling their kids about Jesus is more important than anything else.

Makes a wonderful gift for toddlers—for birthdays, Christmas or baptism/christening. Can also be given at a baby shower or gender-reveal party.

Wherever You Go, I Want You To Know is a book about a parent’s desire for their child to know and love Jesus, no matter what they do when they grow up. I haven’t read the original version, so I can’t compare this abridged and simplified board book to it, but the board book feels complete, without anything missing in the text or illustrations. The book is simple and has a repetitive refrain, introducing various career opportunities, who Jesus is, and why it is so important to know him. The illustrations by Isobel Lundie are cute and diverse, showing boys and girls with different skin tones exploring future careers and spending time with their parents.

I was curious what the author removed from the board book version, so I read some reviews of the full-length book, including the one that Josh posted here on Life is Story. As I expected, the original book included additional occupations, but it also talked about dealing with difficulty and suffering in the course of life. This board book does not mention anything about life setbacks or sadness, and just focuses on hope for the future and Jesus’s love for the child. Personally, I think it’s best to give children a vocabulary for sadness early on in a safe and loving way, but I can see how this would be an easy thing to drop for the sake of lightness and brevity.

I would recommend this book for families, churches, and Christian schools. Although the author primarily designed this for a parent to read with their child, the book never identifies the first-person adult voice in the text, and any adult can read this to children they care about. This book is suitable for small hands and makes a nice read-aloud, with rhythmic and sweet text. This would be a great gift for baby showers, christenings or baby dedications, and first birthdays.

four-half-stars