You Are by Emily Assell, illustrated by Lauren Copple

You Are written by Emily Assell, illustrated by Lauren Coppleis a board book for "speaking God's Word over your children."


Eight of the spreads feature an attribute addressed to a child, such as "Sweet child, you are free" with the word or words following the phrase "you are" appearing in larger font. Then, an associated Bible verse that expresses the same sentiment appears in a much smaller font.


Each spread is illustrated with an adult animal and at least one child animal. The animals are very cute with a pleasant illustration style. The background is lightly patterned, but ultimately not distracting. The effect is a very simple spread with only the animals and the words to focus on.

The final spread is "Child of God, you are so loved" and contains seven verses in support of the statement, unlike the others that only have one.

The first spread is title page information, with a letter to parents that describes the power of the Word of God, including quoting scripture.

It seems like this is a book that can grow with children, by beginning with only reading the "you are" statements and then adding in the Bible verses as the child is ready to listen for a longer amount of time. It's a nice book with a good message, but it doesn't seem like it would be a favorite since there is no story line or consistent characters.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher, but was not required to post a positive review.

The Push: A Story of Friendship by Patrick Gray, illustrated by Justin Skeesuck and Matt Waresak

The Push: A Story of Friendship by Patrick Gray, illustrated by Justin Skeesuck and Matt Waresak is a picture book about two boys who bond over a love of baseball. One of the boys is in a wheelchair, but it doesn’t get in the way of their fun times.

John, the boy in the wheelchair, entertains his friend Marcus with jokes that are shared in the book. He also helps him with. Marcus make sure that John is always included and doesn’t have to sit out of activities. Marcus feeds, dresses, and pushes John in his wheelchair. 

“I push you in a wheelchair, but you push me to be a better person,” (26).

This book has a lot of text and small print, meant to be read to a child. I think this story would be great for a child in a wheelchair, children who go to school with someone in a wheelchair, or just any child as an example of how to be helpful and kind.

Even the illustrations live out the message of the book. On the last page there is a page called “The Story behind the Artwork,” which explains that author Patrick Gray and illustrator-friend Justin Skeesuck created this book together, not letting Justin’s inability to use his hands due to a progressive disease stop them. They found illustrator Matthew Waresak who ha a similar art style to Justin to outline the illustrations and then Justin used a voice responsive program to fill them in with watercolors. The end result is beautiful on the page, and in its message. 

I highly recommend this book for older children due to the large amount of text. Some pages have several paragraphs of around 4 sentences. 

I received a copy of this book from the publisher but was not required to post a positive review.