As I was shelving picture books at my library, this lovely book caught my eye. It's beautifully illustrated, told in rhyming verse, and features a variety of animal parents with their children.

Summary:

When I Talk to God, I Talk About You by Chrissy Metz and Bradley Collins tells the story of the bond between a parent and a child. After saying that they pray for their child, the narrator describes different characteristics that they are grateful for. The child's giggles. Their bravery. Their kindness. The narrator describes how they talk to God about watching the child grow, and encourages their little one to pray, too.

About the Book:

Admittedly, this book isn't quite what I expected when I first picked it up. I was expecting it to be a book on prayer, delving into what the narrator prays about for their child and with their child. I expected the story to focus on faith.

Instead, When I Talk to God, I Talk About You is more of an "I Love You" book. The repetition of the title phrase felt less like an emphasis on prayer and more like an expression of love. "When I talk to God" becomes the introduction of a conversation. "Here are all the things I talk about with God: how you're silly and fun. How you're learning to share. How you're such a great helper." As such, the book takes on two focuses: encouraging the child to pray and affirming to the child just how loved they are.

At first, I felt like the authors were jumping between the two ideas too much. However, the repeated phrase "When I talk to God, I talk about you" does turn the parent's conversation with the child into an implied prayer. It shows how the parent talks with God about the daily blessings of the child's growth. The parent models how conversational prayer can be, allowing us to talk with God about anything on our hearts. We find in the implied prayers how grateful the parent is for their child, and also see how praying for others is an act of love.

Final Thoughts:

Overall, When I Talk to God, I Talk About You is a gorgeous book. Each illustration beautifully depicts an animal parent-and-child pair, with heartwarming colors and expressive detail. The artwork makes me smile every time I open the pages. (My favorite spread is the final one where all the animals are falling asleep, with fireflies flickering around them like stars.)

While the text wasn't what I expected, every line rings with love. I appreciate how the authors included prayer as an important part of a parent's bond with their child. It's an incredibly sweet book, and one I would recommend.

Karley Conklin

Karley Conklin is a librarian by day, writer by night, and bookworm 24/7. She reviews books for Write2Ignite, as well as on her blog litwyrm.com