After reading Max Lucado’s Fearless I was jumping at the chance to review his newest children’s book, The Tallest of the smalls. On the first page Lucado asks parents, “What do you do when your child feels small and insignificant? What do you say to smooth hurt feelings? What does your child need from you?” The answer to those questions is on the pages of this book.
In Stiltsville there are those that are low and those that aren’t. Every day at the exact same time the lows are reminded of their position when ‘they’ come out and parade around on their stilts. In a show of superiority they choose one person from the lowly crowd to “…move up the ladder.” Of course we all know that when you try to be something you’re not or hold yourself to someone else’s standards and judgments you are bound to fall. And when you fall in Stiltsville ‘they’ will be there to laugh and take away their good judgments. But their judgments don’t matter, or God loves us and wants us to keep our feet on the ground.
The book is beautifully illustrated by Maria Monescillo. I liked the simple, non-descript faces on the characters, the rich colors and seemingly textured clothing. Still the images didn’t overpower the text and instead created a nice balance.
I highly recommend this book. While reading it to my little ones they felt sorry for the main character Ollie before he got his stilts and they felt even worse when he fell back to the ground. By relating to Ollie I think it helped them to understand that Jesus is there for us and doesn’t want us to make ourselves into someone else’s image. We were made in his image and he loves us!
In Stiltsville there are those that are low and those that aren’t. Every day at the exact same time the lows are reminded of their position when ‘they’ come out and parade around on their stilts. In a show of superiority they choose one person from the lowly crowd to “…move up the ladder.” Of course we all know that when you try to be something you’re not or hold yourself to someone else’s standards and judgments you are bound to fall. And when you fall in Stiltsville ‘they’ will be there to laugh and take away their good judgments. But their judgments don’t matter, or God loves us and wants us to keep our feet on the ground.
The book is beautifully illustrated by Maria Monescillo. I liked the simple, non-descript faces on the characters, the rich colors and seemingly textured clothing. Still the images didn’t overpower the text and instead created a nice balance.
I highly recommend this book. While reading it to my little ones they felt sorry for the main character Ollie before he got his stilts and they felt even worse when he fell back to the ground. By relating to Ollie I think it helped them to understand that Jesus is there for us and doesn’t want us to make ourselves into someone else’s image. We were made in his image and he loves us!
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