God Made Me AND You

God Made Me AND You, Shai Linne

What do you do the first time your child comments out loud about someone who looks different to them? “Mummy, her skin is a different colour!” “Why does that man walk funny?” “Why does that girl have a mark on her face?”

When kids say these things, they are usually just making an observation: they see something different and notice it. They are trying to make sense of the variety they see around them.

I still love the observation my daughter made when she was comparing Mummy (Causasian) and Daddy’s (Asian) skin colour. When we asked what colour he was, she replied, “Daddy’s skin is golden”.

Author Shai Linne has done a great job of explaining difference and how we enjoy it in his children’s book God Made Me AND You: Celebrating God’s Design for Ethnic Diversity.

Written in engaging rhyme, the scene is set in a school bible time class where:

“Two of the boys were not too polite. They teased other kids with all of their might.
They teased one boy for the clothes he would wear.
And one poor girl, they made fun of her hair.
One boy cried when they laughed at his skin.
It was just at that moment, Ms. Preston walked in!”

Then using Genesis 1-2 and Acts 17, Ms. Preston shows the class how loves diversity, both in creation and the people he has made:

“He gave some curly hair
while others have straight.
It please God to fashion
each wonderful trait…
Some that are deaf and some that are blind
All have great worth in God’s sovereign design.
Dark skin, light skin, and all in between
In each color and shade,
God’s beauty is seen…
What some call ethnicity
and others call race,
We should celebrate
as a gift of God’s grace”

Bringing sin into the picture, it's carefully explained that is why some people see differences as bad:

“The very differences meant
to give God praise
Are now reasons for hatred,
so evil our ways.”

Finally, great news – Jesus has come to die for the sins of mankind: “There’s no type of person that Jesus left out”!

“All over the world
God is filling up churches
With saints of all colors
That Jesus has purchased.
God turns strangers
into sisters and brothers
Though different, we’re called
to love one another.”

This is a wonderful way to illustrate the truths of God’s word to children (and parents). Many people spend their time in homogenous people groups, whereas in reality God is calling people from every tribe, language, tongue and nation to himself.

The illustrations by Trish Mahoney (who also illustrated God Made All of Me) are captivating – clear, precise and engagingly detailed. She has included a child with a cochlear implant, a girl with a facial birthmark, a man in a wheelchair, kids with glasses and braces, every type of hair imaginable (and with a turban possibly suggesting no hair), and a variety of skin tones.



Linne has also provided notes at the end to assist parents and caregivers as they help their children appreciate ethnic diversity.

The only weak part was the final page where the class sings a song. I’m not sure if was a well-known song (it wasn’t to me) but it doesn’t read well aloud, in the same natural way that the rest of the book does: it was too repetitive. But this is a minor quibble.

All in all, this is an excellent book for 3-8 year olds showing how God enjoys and celebrates the diversity of his creation and how we also should appreciate all the variety found in people in the world.




I received an e-copy of this book from New Growth Press in exchange for an honest review.