(This post contains affiliate links. Read my full disclosure.)

When I saw that Dandi Daley Mackall’s book When God Created My Toes was available for review, I ordered it for my girls.  They really liked her book God Loves Me More Than That.

However, When God Created My Toes was a big disappointment.  Not only were the pictures far from the bright, cheerful illustrations of the other book, but the theology was questionable, as well.

The book’s dedication page starts out with Psalm 139:13-16, but nowhere in the rest of the book did I find any indication that the author was using the verses as a point of reference. Instead of a little one being knit together in the womb as the Psalm asserts, the rhyme suggests being created in Heaven with an audience of angels.  The entire book is in question form: “Did we hide in cloudy skies when God created my eyes?” and I’m afraid most of the questions would actually be answered with a “no.”

It may be cute and innocent, but instead of being an accurate reflection of how new life grows within the womb (a concept my girls are asking questions about, being big sisters to a brand new baby), it gives a portrayal of creation that I’ve not read in Scripture: “How I wonder what we said when God created my head!”

I’m afraid When God Created My Toes won’t be staying on my daughters’ bookshelves.  I’d rather show them pictures of a baby’s development within the womb to display the intricate wonder of the way God created us.  And if the purpose is the child’s self esteem, as the back of the book suggests, perhaps there would be better ways to go about it than suggesting that games of peek-a-boo and Eskimo kisses with God were part of their creation.

(Thanks to Waterbrook Multnomah for the review copy.)