Book Review: The I Believe Bunny by Tish Rabe

Thanks to the Thomas Nelson Book Review Program, my five year old assistant and I spent some time tonight with The I Believe Bunny. This lovely hardcover book is illustrated in pastel colors and the cover shown above is illustrative of the style of the pictures. The words have rhythm and rhyme, making it a fun book to read aloud.

I Believe Bunny heard a mouse drowning in the river. He stuck a stick in the river to pull the mouse to safety, but felt he was losing his grip, so he prayed that God would help him be strong. Friends showed up and together they pulled the mouse to safety, showing that God answered his prayer. Near the end of the book, it says:

Have faith in God's love,
and you'll find when you do,
nothing you try will be
impossible for you.

This a beautiful book and my daughter enjoyed it. I can see it becoming part of the regular rotation of bedtime stories. However, I'm a little concerned about the message shown above. Yes, I believe God answers prayers. No, I don't think that praying about something means you are necessarily going to get it. Now, in this story, the bunny prays for strength, but gets friends instead, so I am going to point out that God knows better than we do, and that He doesn't always give us what we want. However, there are going to be times in that bunny's life when he prays for strength to be able to do something, and what he'll get is the strength to deal with the fact that he couldn't. I know that doesn't make for cute kids stories, but I'm a little concerned with telling kids that if they want something, they just need to pray and have faith and it will be granted.

Thomas Nelson product page.