I have decided to review another of the appealing books in Lisa Tawn Bergren’s “God Gave Us” series. As of this date, there are 13 books in the series. The first book of the series, God Gave Us You, was published in 2000, and the most recent one in 2019. I had assumed the books were all illustrated by the same artist, but I discovered that the one I am reviewing in this article and several others were illustrated by David Hohn. The book featured here, entitled God Gave Us Thankful Hearts, was published in 2016.

The star of this story, “Little Pup,” is a wolf pup. At the beginning of the story Little Pup is feeling kind of down. He’s thinking ahead to when winter comes and many of the animals will be hibernating, making the forest seem a little boring. But as the story goes on, Mama and Papa help Little Pup learn how to look at the positive side of this and other situations. For instance, Papa says, “We can be thankful for this last bit of autumn and time beside this beautiful river. Even if we don’t catch fish.” Mama says a mouthful when she says, “The trick to having a thankful heart . . . is thinking about the things that make us happy rather than the things that don’t.”

Understanding what seasons are all about can be difficult for young children. This book may help give them a better grasp of the concept. It briefly mentions the other seasons, so you might supplement the text of the book with conversation about what it’s like in the other seasons. Since the subject of hibernation is brought up, you may want to explain it a little for kids unfamiliar with it. According to nationalgeographic.com, the animals are not technically sleeping during their hibernation period. Their metabolism is reduced to 5% of normal. Their physical functions are drastically slowed, or stopped altogether. Their bodies are conserving energy because of food shortages. For the sake of young minds, you could possibly say that their bodies are “resting” because they don’t have enough food to give them energy. Facebook>permalink explains that bears need to hibernate in winter because there are no berries and the fish are covered by ice. Wolves have no need to hibernate because they still have food. (They can prey on deer and moose, but of course that isn’t mentioned in the story.)

The orange-dominated color palette used in the illustrations gives the book a fall feeling. The artist has done a great job of giving all of the critters in the story expressive faces. Even the inside covers are charming, portraying little wolf pups floating down with the colorful leaves of autumn.

This book seems to me to be appropriate for ages 4 through 7. Its focus on thankfulness and its autumn setting make it a perfect book to read in the Thanksgiving season. At the end of the story, Little Pup is tired and goes to bed. On the final page he is under the covers with his eyes closed, clutching a little stuffed wolf. That makes it a perfect story for bedtime, too. One mother who reviewed the book said that she bought it for her children at Thanksgiving, but it continues to be a favorite selection to read at bedtime.