The Person I Marry was written by Gary Bower in a rhyming type fashion, and then it was illustrated with the most amazing pictures by his wife Jan Bower. The sub-title to this story is "Things I'll Think About Before (and After) Saying 'I Do.'" How awesome is that? Anyway, this book also was votes the 2010 Christian Small Publisher Book of the Year.... and I'll tell you why!! Or better yet, I'll show you :-D.
The Person I Marry from Bower Books on Vimeo.
I love that this is a book that focuses on what really matters in a marriage. My husband and I are kind of funny people. We met over an internet site for those of our faith and we became really good friends (I was dating someone and he was dating on and off... we were in two different countries too). Anyway, we had a while to cultivate a friendship and when it came right down to it we realized that we really clicked with one another! Because we didn't have physical contact/looks etc. to deal with as we got to know each other, I feel really blessed because we realized what was really real. (Not to say that those who meet in a traditional way can't). What I'm trying to say is that we just enjoyed talking to each other, we felt like we really knew each other, and we didn't care about all the hubbub of a wedding, we just knew we wanted to spend the rest of our lives with one another. No fancy rings, and we did very little otherwise... just some small get togethers to appease family, but we got married in a Latter-day Saint temple, so we knew the "venue" and most important part of our marriage was free and that we had a whole life to plan for and so we didn't really care about "wedding" things, we cared about the "marriage" and wanted to focus on that.
Anyway, I felt like the Bower's book took 31 pages of beautiful illustrations and lovely verse and created a story in which children can get wrapped up and enjoy while being reminded of what matters most. There is so much negative attention in this world given to marriage, and we really think that a bulk of that has to do with the far that people don't know what real marriage is! It isn't just a thing you do, meet someone who's good looking and hope it works... it's something far grander, part of our Heavenly Father's plan, and requires people that are willing to work for strong virtues/values and share that with each other. My children love reading this book and especially enjoy flipping through the pages. I just love that there's another source that they enjoy spending time with that reinforces our values and what their dad and I find to be the most important aspects when finding the person you want to marry.
The only blurb in this book that I disagree with is that marriage only last from death to you part. In my religion we believe that families are forever and that the marriage bond is one that lasts into the eternities if made in the temple. So, that's my only disclaimer, but it obviously didn't deter me one bit from picking this book up! I couldn't handle not having a physical copy of it in my hands. I was so enamored by the illustrations that I literally bought one that day. I also wanted another one in the series after watching various videos of the Bower's that you can find on their website, but it wasn't available yet. Gary personally emailed me in regards to the book I wanted and was very personable and definitely someone that I'd love to buy from again.
Not only would you be getting a fabulous book from this company for a steal of a price at $11.99 that would be encouraging to your children, but you'd also be supporting a great family! My children LOVED watching video's about the Bower Family
To see what other crew members are saying about this product you can visit the homeschool crew blog here.
*As a member of the 2011 TOS Homeschool Crew I was provided a free copy of this product in exchange for my honest review of its content. I have not received any other compensation for the opinions stated here, and they were not promised a positive review.**
1 comment:
Just found your blog, LOVE this review, wow, I want the book now! :)
In our house we have had a lot of similar discussions thanks to the Liken film "Esther".
Post a Comment