A Picture Book a Day for a Year: Day 344

Picture Book: When God was a Little Girl

Author: David Weiss

Illustrator: Joan Hernadez Lindeman

Summary: A father and young daughter are on a long car trip. She wants a story about, “When God was a little girl.” Thus begins a father’s imaginative retelling of the creation stories from Genesis. The personified God here likes to do art projects, giggles a lot, loves to sing colors into being, and invites the humans she creates to be echoes of the divine while they create and sing the names of all of the earth’s creatures.

Hanna’s Comments: I was delighted to see this title on the storypath blog. You’ll find a link to that blog on my blog list here. My library didn’t have this book so I ordered it immediately. I was not disappointed! I love the artsy emphasis with both the music and the craft angles that children will enjoy. I especially appreciate how the young female images of God change in race and age. This is a wonderful book for expanding the image of God in a way that is non-threatening and delightful. Use it to consider other possibilities for expanding God’s image and encourage your audience to consider what these images have in common and what attributes for God are out of bounds for your group. Resources to supplement this book are at www.WhenGodWasaLittleGirl.com. At the back, the author and illustrator offer some details about their inspirations for this picture book.

Original Publisher & Date of Publication: Beaver’s Pond Press, 2013

Age & Grade Appropriateness: 4 and up, Pre and up 

# of Pages: 32

Available in Spanish? Not at present

Formats other than Book: None at present 

PBT Category: God Book, Award Winner, Post 2K 

PBT Topics this Book connects with:  abundance/bounty, animals, art, awe, babies/children, beauty, beginnings/morning, Bible/scripture, choir/music/singing/songs, creation, creativity/imagination/ingenuity, discovery/invention, diversity, Earth/world, the environment/nature, fathers, God’s nature, humanity, identity/names, image of God, moon/space/stars/sun, parables/stories, play, stories, travel

Scripture Connections: The Creation Stories (Genesis 1 & 2)

Idea(s) for Application: Use this book to discuss and expand images of God in the Genesis creation stories and beyond.