Adventures in Reading: I Love You Even When

When you are pregnant with your first child, it seems like everyone tells you that you will be amazed by how quickly you will fall head over heals in love with her when she is born. And they are SO right. I thought I loved Rebekah when she was inside of me, but the moment that I held her little body in my arms...it was immediate, life changing love. Love that grows every day. Unconditional love. 

And as much as I love her, there is Someone else who her unconditionally even more that I do! It's God. He is the ultimate example of unconditional love. And Daniel and I, as parents, want to make sure Rebekah knows and feels this unconditional love. God's unconditional love for His children is hard for even adults to wrap their minds around, yet alone children. But Donna Keith just wrote a children's book that I think does a fantastic job of illustrating unconditional love to both young and young at heart readers. 

I Love You Even When by Donna Keith is a board book illustrated Allison Edgson for children ages 0-4. The rhyming story is about a family of bears who demonstrate unconditional love to each other through different life events. The parents show their unconditional love to the bear cubs in situations that happen to many children in their real lives. The bear cubs do things like playing to rough, making a mess, disobeying, and not sharing. The parents respond by demonstrating unconditional love, but also instill lessons of obedience, apologies, and consequences for their actions. The mother bear also makes a mistake and the bear cubs must demonstrate unconditional love to her as well.

I really enjoyed the message of this book, and I know we will be reading it for years to come. Rebekah is really drawn to stories that have rhythm and rhyme to the words, and this one has both. When we first read the story, I was questioning a bit the choice of the illustrator to make the bear cubs 3 different types of bears. A bear family with a brown, white, and panda bear cub isn't exactly something you would witness in nature. But then I realized that perhaps that was a conscious decision to connect with children who may be a part of a racially diverse family because of adoption or foster care. This book would make a wonderful gift for a family who may fall into that category with 'bear cubs' who look different on the outside, but who all need the same unconditional love. 

*GIVEAWAY* (yay!)

If you would like to win a copy of I Love You Even When for your own collections or to give away as a gift, all you have to do is leave a comment. (If you are a 'no reply' blogger please also leave some way for me to contact you if you win) You can earn extra entries by commenting here on Facebook, and here on Instagram. I will pick a winner and notify them on Friday, July 17th, and Tommy Nelson Publishing will send you a free copy! 

I was given a copy of this book for free in exchange for my review. The opinions expressed are my own true opinions.