Not bad, but not great either.
The devotion are clearly structured. They always begin with a Bible verse, followed by three sections. First comes "Talk About It" with a question or two. It is followed by "Read About It" which elaborates on the verse you read and the questions you talked about it. The devotions finish with a section called "Pray About It" with a prayer that you can read out lout and your child(ren) can repeat.

Most of the messages were quite good but I felt like it was aimed at a wider ranging age group. Sometimes it sounded like it was talking to smaller children, like 3 or 4 years old, but then sometimes big words or concepts were introduced that smaller children would not understand. It would have been helpful if there was an indication what age group this book was written for.

I liked most of the verses that were chosen and the thoughts about them. What I absolutely did not like was that they were written from the reader’s point of view. I found it annoying that the writer didn’t just make a few points or suggestions as to what I could say, but instead she actually put words into my mouth.
Moreover, the book really is - true to the title - for MOMMY and child. Somehow I thought, surely it will be neutral enough to include all caretakers, like daddy, grandma, grandpa, etc. but no.
This passage is a good example to show what I disliked:

“Being hurt by someone or experiencing pain from an incident isn’t fun. As your mommy, I feel sad to see you in tears because I care about you. I want to help you feel better.” (p.10)

Yes, that IS how I feel. But having someone MAKE me say this also makes me feel like the writer pretends to know me or that she assumed this is not what I naturally would have said to my child. Which I absolutely would have. It is probably not intended, but speaking from my POV feels like an intrusion.

My last point is about the pictures, or rather the lack thereof. I have read some great devotions for kids and I am pretty picky about it. But the gorgeous cover really stuck out and made me want to read this book.
And the pictures in the book are really, very cute. They are actually my favorite part of the book. How disappointed was I when I saw that there are hardly any pictures inside. There is only one (sometimes two) for each WEEK. There should at least be one for EACH DAY! It is a book for children after all!!!

The book was not bad but those two negative points really outweighed the pros and I was just quickly reading through it so I could give my feedback. I will also post my review on GoodReads 30 days before the publication date. If there had been more pictures, it really would have made a difference.

Thank you NetGalley and Barbour Publishing for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

I am going to give you an honest review from a parent’s perspective, but also from what my 4 year old twins thought. Many thanks to the publisher for this advanced digital copy. I will be posting my review on goodreads.

The devotional book has a variety of subjects that are relatable to younger children, but I think that the target audience should be older. Younger children will not understand some of the “Talk about it” questions primarily due to the words used, such as “comfort” or even understanding the concept of the Holy Spirit. With that said, it is difficult to find a new, interactive devotional for children. This devotional is excellent for school aged children. The electronic format was difficult, but I understand the final book will be different. I would recommend more pictures and coloring to make it attractive to children.

I read through a few of the devotionals with my newly turned 4 year old twins. They really enjoyed the prayers and repeated it to me. They were disappointed that there weren’t more pictures and kept asking for “the pictures”. Again, as mentioned above, this is probably a better devotional for older children, or precocious preschoolers.