Today is Niko’s Night and Day release! In case you haven’t heard, this is CPH’s latest children’s book, so as you can imagine I was excited to get a sneak peak. 🙂

Niko’s Night and Day Review

First of all, Colleen Oakes is a winsome Lutheran author, in this children’s book and in her books for adults. In her debut work for children, Niko’s Night and Day: A Story of Opposites in God’s Creation, she tells a story about a little boy who wakes up and realizes he lost his favorite toy. 

Using lovely language, she describes his walk outside, comparing daytime memories with the nighttime experiences. Well-suited to young children, there’s nice use of onomatopoeia, counting, and exploration of nature.

Note, in this case God’s creation is a reference to the outdoors and not the creation story. 🙂

God is incorporated as a known, comforting presence, watching over the boy, and as someone who is naturally thought of throughout one’s day and night.

The closing lesson read aloud is that “the God who loved him was the very same God who had created the sun and the moon, the stars and the rivers, the wildflowers and the animals . . . and Niko himself.” After that comes a closing lesson for the reader, which explores how, not only do children of God wonder at God’s great creation, but also experience lost and found situations. Then the author goes on to summarize how God cares for us, searches for us, and finds us in three biblical parables.

Be sure to look through the Inside feature to see the illustration work. It’s excellent work.

I was given advanced viewing of the book, but the review is entirely my own.