Book Review: I Can

I Can
By Kathryn O'Brien
Tyndale, 2016
English, 32 pgs
For ages 3-6 years

Description:
With a repetitive, rhythmic introduction of Philippians 4:13 (“I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength”), I Can turns Bible memorization from a duty to a delight for children, using the author’s unique teaching strategy. This purposeful presentation of Scripture will help children memorize, understand, and absorb passages as the author presents this powerful verse one word at a time, teaching the meaning of each individual word before presenting the entire passage. I Can builds a meaningful connection between God’s Word and a child’s life experiences, laying a foundation for a love and comprehension of Scripture. Parents and children will enjoy interacting together over the passage.

Review:
I set this book out on a side table, waiting to see if my 6 year old would see it. He did and picked it up and started reading it. He worked to sound out words and got very excited when there were words he already knew. The best part though was when he got to the end and was excited to see that he had been reading a Bible verse as he read the book.

The book starts very simply with "I Can" and then has a short list of things the kid can do. It adds words to the scripture and then continues to show all the things they can do, explains that nothing is too hard for them, describes who Jesus was (and gives the plan of salvation in one page!), tells them some of the things Jesus does for His children.

The pictures are of children on a farm, doing various activities. While they're good pictures, I think more diverse pictures would have been good too. My kids don't have a farm to run around and it kinda made the little one think that he could only do the things the book says if he's on a farm. Of course, we corrected that.

But I think it's a good book and a part of a good series of books for little ones. It is clear and I didn't have to explain what any of the words meant.

I received a copy of the book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review on this site and a commercial bookselling site. No additional compensation has been received and I was not required to write a positive review.