Book Review: Wonderfully Made: God's Story of Life from Conception to Birth

Recently Little Bit has been asking me more about where babies come from. My older girls got to experience learning about how a baby grows from conception to birth when I was pregnant with her, but she doesn't get that experience. When I was given the opportunity to review Wonderfully Made: God's Story of Life from Conception to Birth by Danika Cooley, I thought it would be a great way to help Little Bit learn about this miracle!

Danika Cooley is the creator of our Bible Curriculum, Bible Road Trip, as well as the author of a book we reviewed last year, When Lightning Struck: The Story of Martin Luther.

As the title suggestions, Wonderfully Made: God's Story of Life from Conception to Birth walks through the weeks of pregnancy showing how the baby develops from conception until birth. The book is meant for ages 5-11 and is currently $9.99 on Amazon.
It is written as if the child's mother is talking, telling her child about how he or she developed through the pregnancy. While this worked well for me to read to Little Bit, it wouldn't work as well for her sisters, or daddy to read it to her. Also, if I was pregnant, and looking for a book to help my child understand what was happening with their new sibling, growing inside me, I think I would prefer a book that didn't specify that it was about the child bring read to.  With some effort, a reader could modify the book, while reading it out loud, to make it 3rd person (saying "your mommy's" instead of "my") or to make it about "your new brother or sister" instead of "you", so not a "deal breaker", just something to be aware of.

Little Bit enjoyed the book, though one thing she is currently interested is how the baby comes out of the Mommy's tummy, and this book doesn't go into the details of how the baby is born. I assume this is either because some babies are born c-section and others are not, or because some people would be uncomfortable with the discussion of female anatomy that would be necessary. I should also note that it doesn't go into any details of how the daddy's sperm joins with the mommy's egg inside the mommy, so again, there is no concern about introducing more about sex than you might be comfortable with at a young age. So, while Little Bit was looking for more, I think these omissions were handled well. The lack of information didn't stop Little Bit from asking to have the book read to her several times in the first couple of days after we received it. And I had to tell her that I needed to keep it on the bookshelf in the living room until after the review was written, she was planning to take it with her to keep in her room. She'll be glad to know I've FINALLY written the review so she can have her book back :)

Each page of the book includes artwork and a Bible verse. I wasn't sure how to handle the Bible verses, it would make the story very "choppy" to read them, so I didn't. You can see how the Bible verse is included on the sample page to the right.

Something else I hadn't thought about being an issue, but maybe I should have. We didn't have ultrasounds or find out Little Bit's gender before she was born. This book assumes everything that is done during a typical "mainstream" pregnancy, so I had to do some editing while I read, to explain that while yes, many people have the doctor take a picture of the baby inside mommy's tummy at this point, we didn't . . . etc.

Overall, if you're looking for a book to walk your child through how a baby develops throughout a pregnancy, this would be a good choice.

I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. No other compensation was received and I was not required to write a positive review.