There are many parts, but one body

I received an advanced reader copy of this book for a review.  

My Review: In this rhyming children’s book, a mother tells her daughter that someone out there looks just like her. This daughter begins to think about this person. She thinks about where she could live on this earth and the many different things she could be doing. In the end, she recognizes that this other person could be looking at the same moon, and her mom reminds her that there is only one of her. 

I enjoyed how the author takes the reader around the world to different places to daydream about this other person. The reader can start to imagine the enormity of the world. Yet, the activity is something possible in any country on earth and is relatable as all children have done most.  

When I finished the book, I felt more connected to the world. We all have dreams, see the stars/moon/clouds, play outside or with others, have family, and take care of ourselves. I liked the concept of thinking big yet feeling connected to each other. The artwork is impressive, and children will spend time examining the art’s details on each page.

Discussion with child: We live in a world with 7 billion people; there might be times when we start to feel insignificant, especially in a world that ties our value and worth into our productivity. Therefore, we shout our deeds to the world via social media. Now everyone knows how we have contributed to society, and that gives us our sense of worth. Productivity as a sense of our worth lasts only for a moment. Therefore, the next day, we must again remind everyone how important we are by showing them our next great deed. The truth is, our purpose is not what we do but how we receive love.

I liked this book because it stressed how unique we are, and how connected we are throughout the world. We are created uniquely (Jer 1:5, 29:11, Gal 1:15, Mt 10:30, and Jn16:16) to play an essential role in the Body of Christ – to receive love and to give love, not to do great things.

Receiving and giving love can be done in the smallest, most unseen ways. St. Francis De Sales wrote in the book The Art of Loving God, “Not all of us are called to do great things for the love of God and our neighbor, but we can all do little things each day with greater fidelity and love.”

Even if we do great things, but lack love, we gain nothing (1 Cor 13:1-1). Many times, loving our neighbor is not easily seen in the world; it is not tangible. Loving our neighbor often goes unnoticed, and if it is noticeable, it wouldn’t be something we post on social media (as that would be about us, and not about them).

We are each unique and connected as we have the same mission – to be part of the Body of Christ.

1 Cor 12:12-27 Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many. Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.