The Giving Manger Written by Allison Hottinger and Illustrated by Emily King Book Review

The Giving Manger is a wonderful children’s book filled with a fun activity that the whole family can participate in. The book comes with a neat manger made out of wood, straw, and a baby Jesus. The book is based on the scripture verse found in Matthew 25:40b. The verse is about how if we do anything for someone else who is a least of these, then it is like we are doing it unto Jesus. The book tells the story of a family whose father decided to change up Christmas. They didn’t have a lot of money themselves. Her father would crave a special wooden toy each year for Anne and her brother, Ben. Her father announced how this year would be different they would do gifts everyday starting December 1^st. Both children were so excited until they discovered that it was a different kind of gift. They would instead do a random act of kindness to be a blessing each day and then they could place a piece of straw into the wooden toy manger. They would be following the teaching of Jesus and serving others and being a blessing to them. On December 25, they would place the wooden baby Jesus into the manger. 

 

 

 

I would recommend this inspiring children’s book to anyone who is seeking a new Christmas book to start a new family tradition with. I immensely loved the idea of the wooden manger and placing the straw into it and the power of serving others. I liked how Allison come up with this neat idea and they created this wonderful gift set to help families to come together to serve others. I also liked how she included special ideas from children, to teenagers, to families as a whole on how to serve. Some of my favorite ideas were: “make dessert for a neighbor, forgiving someone who hurt you, leave a kind note in a library book, take treats to a fire station, pay for a person behind you, pray for someone in need”, and much more. I also loved the illustrations and how they all appeared to look like wooden characters. This book and gift set would have a great Christmas gift to every child on their list, this season! 

 

 

 

"I received this book free from the publisher, Hachette Book Group/Faithwords/ Worthy Kids for my honest review.”

 

 

 

 

If you would like to purchase a copy of The Giving Manger, check it out on Amazon.com:

 

 

 

https://www.amazon.com/Giving-Manger-Christmas-Family-Tradition/dp/1546034226/