A Book Review: Wonderfully Made

A few weeks ago, I talked a little about a wonderful book called Wonderfully Made: God’s Story of Life from Conception to Birth by Danika Cooley.

I’ve reviewed another products by Danika Cooley and knew to expect something well-conceived and thoughtful. This book (Wonderfully Made) is just plain special.

I honestly struggled a little bit when I asked to be on the Launch Team for the book.

You see. The book is intended for families with children around 5-11. It is written from a mother’s perspective. She is talking to a young child about what was happening inside her womb when this child was conceived and ultimately delivered. 

My struggle wasn’t with the verbage and delivery of the book itself. It’s beautifully and gently written. There are no “revelations” concerning childbirth that are inappropriate for young children. It is a very basic description of the miracle of birth.

I didn’t actually give birth to my son. A beautiful young girl had that privilege. I consider our adoption of Josiah to be one of the most singular lovely miracles of our life. I did conceive once and lost that baby at 2 months.

This young woman had the “choice” to abort her pregnancy. She had the “choice” to move on with her life and try and forget it never happened. Instead she made the very brave "choice" to give life to her baby and gave us the gift of her choice which changed our lives forever.

This book happened to open up a whole new discussion in our family. And made the idea of some “choices” that are taking place every day that much more heartbreaking. I don't want my son to believe a lie. He was never just some clump of cells that happened to inconvenience a young girl just beginning to start her freshman year of high school. From the womb he was loved and cherished. God had a plan for his life. 

Wonderfully Made is a marvelous way to illustrate to children the miracle of life itself. And how marvelously God formed us.

There are so many uses for this book. It would be a wonderful gift for an expectant moms to keep on her bookshelf for those years to come.  It would be a great teaching tool for young brothers and sisters who are patiently awaiting a new little sibling.  Wonderfully Made would be perfect to use in a homeschool setting as part of a science unit.

Or you can use it how I did. To emphasis the miraculous mechanisms of God’s most beloved creation. And to emphasis to a young boy (who we adopted all those years ago) that God has a wonderful plan for his life and the great love a young mother had for him.  

By the way...I also took the book to our little reading club. Our newest member is around 4 months old. I read the book to all the kiddos (ages 5-14) and they worked on the beautiful and FREE lapbook Danika has created to go along with the book. The kids were fascinated! The book was especially significant considering the absolute yumminess of our newest club member.