What God Says About You

In this charming, rhyming picture book, author Hosanna Wong invites children to understand what God says about them and the names he calls them: “No matter where you choose to go, / the people you meet, or the things you do, / it’s important that you always know / the wonderful things God says about you!”

Wong asks children if they have ever been called cruel names or been hurt by unkind words. Then she points out that there is only one being who can truly name a person or thing---God, the creator of all: “So everything God says about you / is final and true---you can’t change it!”

Pointing to Scripture, Wong answers the question, “Who am I?” Children learn that they are God’s friend, chosen by God, God’s masterpiece, God’s temple, God’s messenger, a child of God, greatly loved, truly free, and made brand new. She concludes, “As you journey through your life, / you’ll be called many names— / some silly, some snarky, some true. / But no one has the power / to give you your true name / except for God, who created you.”

Illustrator Liz Brizzi’s happy, boisterous pictures portray the joy children feel when they know their identity in God and live freely and securely in his love.

In an endnote, Wong points to the Bible verses on which she based her narrative. For example, children know they are God’s friends because Jesus said, “I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you” (John 15:15). And kids can be assured they are God’s temple because the apostle Paul wrote, “You surely know that your body is a temple where the Holy Spirit lives. The Spirit is in you and is a gift from God” (1 Cor. 6:19).

(Tommy Nelson)