A few months ago Scarlette started telling us that she was afraid of the dark. That is what she said “I am just a wittle bit afwaid of da dark.” She asked us to leave the door to her room cracked each night. We got her a nightlight but she still wanted us to leave the door open. “Like a twiangle” she said, showing me with her hands exactly how much she wanted the door to be left open.
This past spring I was having lunch with my friend Jess when she said “Do you want to see the children’s book Matthew wrote?” Matthew is her husband and I’ve read and loved a lot of his books but none of them have been for children so I was intrigued.
(Plus, it’s just polite to look at the books that your friend’s husband writes. I mean, I am very southern.)
This was back before the book was released, so she pulled up the prototype on her iPad for me to see.
(I feel like prototype is the wrong word. I feel like that is the right word for robots and the wrong word for what books look like before they are released.)
And I read through the book, turned to Jess and said “This is hands-down the single best faith-based picture book for children that I have ever read.”
That was not me being overly effusive for a friend. That is the absolute truth. It’s basically the sweetest Dr. Seuss-ish rhyming book that you will ever read. And on top of that it is beautifully illustrated.
God Made Light is all about how, well, God made light. Obviously. It talks about all of the fun things you can do in the daylight and by the light of the moon but it also shares about how we don’t have to be afraid of the dark because God put light inside each of us. I love the end of the book which reads (spoiler alert) “So beam like the sun; glimmer like a star. And wherever YOU go, dark will stop being dark.”
God Made Light released last week and Matthew and Jessica graciously sent us a package with the book and a few fun book-related products, like a puzzle and lunchbox notes and most importantly, a cute little nightlight. (You can see the whole God Made Light product collection here at Dayspring)
I read the book to Scarlette at bedtime and she loved it. It has a little mirror at the end, which was a fun surprise for her. “HEY DAT IS ME IN DIS BOOK!”
Then we plugged in the new God Made Light nightlight and talked about how it is okay to be afraid of things because everyone is a little bit afraid of something. But if she starts to feel afraid of the dark she can look at her new nightlight and remember that she is special and full of light because God is with her and then maybe she won’t feel scared anymore. But that if she does she can call for Mommy because, you know, it’s hard to be little sometimes.
The next night she asked for the book again and then she said “OH YEAH! And my nightlight so I won’t have to be afwaid of da dark!”
We have read it every night since it arrived and she has only ventured into my room once, hands full of a glowing octopus toy to navigate her way to my bed in the dark.
(Related: nothing is as frightening as waking up in the middle of the night to the sound of your door creaking and then seeing nothing but a huge orb of green light coming towards you in the blackness on account of how you don’t have your contacts in. Let’s talk about which one of us is afraid of the dark NOW, Scarlette.)
Last week I saw on Facebook that Natalie Grant shared about how helpful the book was for her little girl, who is about Scarlette’s age and also going through an “afraid of the dark” phase. And I was like “I LOVE NATALIE GRANT” and then I calmed down a little bit and was like “I KNOW NATALIE GRANT, IT’S A GREAT BOOK. WE HAVE SO MUCH IN COMMON, CAN I HOLD ONE OF YOUR DOVE AWARDS?”
(Okay, I didn’t calm down at all. I’m a very enthusiastic person.)
I am not saying the book is some sort of cure-all but I absolutely think it has a beautiful message that is worth sharing with your child. And if they happen to be afraid of the dark like mine is then this is a really sweet way to share with them about how not to be scared.
Scarlette goes to a faith-based preschool so I purchased a copy for her teacher’s classroom library and I’ll be giving this book as Christmas gifts this year, because I love the message so much. Plus, it’s just so cute, isn’t it?
Jessica and Matthew actually self-published this book and you can purchase it here on Amazon and you can purchase the accompanying floor puzzle, nightlight and/or lunchbox notes here from Dayspring (If you place a a $35 order before November 5 you can get free shipping with the code SHIPLIGHT)
(GALLEY! THE WORD IS GALLEY! Not prototype. That was killing me, smalls.)
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