A Spoonful of Faith

PreS-Gr 2–A story about what helps when you’re feeling worried. Layla is nervous about starting school, but her mother gets out a recipe book to help her face her fears. Using phrases such as “dashes of kindness” and “handfuls of hope” (depicted as swirling stars, hearts, and flowers), the story depicts Layla’s realization that the real thing that helps is God’s love, which she already has. With this reminder, she feels empowered to do anything and heads off to school. The sweet and simple message makes the story better suited for universal self-help collections than the religion shelf. Although the book is intended to be shared aloud, some bumpy rhymes make it difficult. The best features of the book are the illustrations. The soft, pretty drawings are set predominantly in light pink and blue and fill the whole page spreads, with the stars, hearts, and flowers dotting throughout the scenes. Slightly wavy lines drawn for the background settings and characters add to a whimsical feeling. Layla (also the name of the author/illustrator’s child) and her mother clearly display shifting emotions on their faces and young readers can bypass the wording to figure out what is happening in the story.