​Book Review: His Grace is Enough

​​Now, here’s a lovely book about grace for kids (and their adults)!
His Grace is Enough is a delightful picture book written by Melissa Kruger and illustrated by Isobel Lundie. The story, if it can be called that for it’s probably more like a spoken lesson, is an invitation for children to understand the reassurance and hope of God’s grace. 
The rhyming text is written from the perspective of a parent or loved one reaching out to a child who may have made a mistake or done something they are ashamed of: ‘You’re hiding from me and look so upset. Did you do something wrong that you now regret?’ Over the following pages, various examples of doing the wrong thing, and natural responses to them, are discussed. 

From hiding to covering up, from lying to striving for perfectionism, all our human attempts to make our sin right again are shown to be lacking. Only God’s grace is enough to restore relationships, both with the people in our world and with our loving heavenly Father himself. 
What I like about this book is that rather it than starting with an explanation of sin and warnings not to sin, the narrative jumps right in to assuming sin will occur. In fact, it begins with acknowledging our first reaction to sin is often (just as in the garden of Eden) to hide. Gently, and always with an invitation to return to relationship, the author reminds us of God’s grace: ‘Yes, his grace is enough, it’s so big and so free. His grace is enough both for you and for me.’ This phrase is repeated over and over throughout the book and accompanied by thoughtful illustrations that highlight the way relationships heal, from hurt and disappointment to forgiveness. 

​This book does a great job of moving from child-relevant responses to sin to theological explanations about grace and the work of Jesus on the cross. At only one point did I feel the text lapsed a little too comfortably into Christian jargon that could have done with further explanation (or the use of different words). However, given the context of the rest of the book, the reference to ‘He paid the full price’ could possibly fly under the radar. The only other thing I would have loved to have seen would be for the illustrations (which were so awesome at depicting such a  variety of situations and relationships) to also show an image of when adults mess up too. This would have made the repeated line of ‘His grace is enough both for you and for me’ that little more poignant. (Although I also acknowledge that would have been rather tricky to illustrate given there was already so much going on in the artwork.)
All up, this is a wonderful book about grace, family, relationships and the invitation to rest in the forgiveness God offers us. Fabulous for kids, and their grown ups too.

All the details you need:
Title: His Grave is Enough
Written by: Melissa Kruger
Illustrated by: Isobel Lundie
Publisher: The Good Book for Children
Available from The Wandering Bookseller.