Flender, Jocelyn. Tomas Looks Up and Out: When You Don’t Consider Others. Edited by J. Alasdair Groves. Illustrated by Joe Hox. Greensboro, NC: New Growth Press, 2023.
Good News for Little Hearts series

Guide to categories: Kid Review – review of books for elementary-aged and younger children

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Summary

Tomas Looks Up and Out helps children learn how God considers us and wants us to look to him for help so that we consider others too.

Tomas Turtle starts his day thinking more about himself than others. Not only is he annoyed that his sister Tori’s cough kept him awake, but he also brags to all of his friends about his successes. It’s not until he gets sick and his friends take care of him that Tomas learns to look up to God and out to others. 

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My Kid Review

Author Jocelyn Fender focuses on Philippians 2:4 as the theme for Tomas Looks Up and Out. She portrays Tomas in several situations where he is putting himself above others. Through the incidents in the book, Tomas goes from a selfish boy to one who thinks of others. 

As with the other books in this series, it closes with tips for parents to help them help their child understand the concepts in this story. 

The characters in the story are all animals. Illustrator Joe Hox does a great job of portraying the characters in his artwork. I found them to be somewhat similar to those in the Franklin series of picture books. 

Tomas Looks Up and Out: When You Don’t Consider Others would be a great addition to a K-12 Christian school library. Parents, teachers, and church children’s ministry workers will find this book a helpful one as they work with children. 

I received a complimentary copy of Tomas Looks Up and Out. This is my honest review.

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