Book Review: Jesus Loves Me

I was thinking about this board book recently as our copy has become rather worn out, so I need to buy a new copy for our baby coming soon, and remembering another child I would like to give it to. In Jesus Loves Me, the author-illustrator Debby Anderson began with the traditional children's song and added her own verses related to a young child's day from the moment they wake up until they go to bed at night. The words coordinate well with the tune, the pictures have cute details to amuse adults, and both are simple enough to fascinate a child. As a board book, reading or singing from cover to cover will generally be beyond a toddler's attention span capacity, but this book adapts very well to skipping pages.
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We began with this book sitting among other baby toys and books, chosen by an undiscerning toddler about as often as any of the other books. I think it was a few months after our second daughter turned 1 that we began using this in a whole new way. While I helped our oldest have a "Bible study", my husband took our younger daughter into another room and sang 2-4 pages with her out of this book. She loved it, he never pushed it beyond her ability to sit on his lap and "sing" with him (or just listen to him sing), and she learned the routine of spending a little time with Jesus every day.
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Yes, she began having a personal prayer time nearly every day before she could talk. Her daily time with Jesus has changed a lot since then as she's grown to nearly 5 years old, but this book was a wonderful way to begin with her. My husband and I highly recommend it for every family with young children, just to have on hand, but how much more of a treasure it is to spend a couple minutes every day singing through a portion of this book with an infant or toddler, teaching them of Jesus' love and His desire to spend time with them daily.