Little Critter Little Blessings Collection by Mercer Mayer

Some stories, some characters are so familiar you cannot wait to introduce them to your children. In our home, Little Critter is just such a character. I have so many memories of snuggling up with these books as a child it just made sense to share them with my boys. Sadly, our oldest is getting to the  stage where he wants a little more story development, which is why I loved the idea of the Little Blessing Collection.

These stories are filled with the same characters I love but still have a story that keeps my oldest engaged and learning solid lessons.

Overall, I was impressed with this collection. The characters brought about enough nostalgia for  this Mama while still appearing fresh and relatable enough for my children. The stories varied in their topics covering the importance of telling the  truth, thankfulness, letting others go first, and forgiveness.

I was impressed at how Mayer's laying out of Little Critter's dilemmas naturally prompted my kiddo to ask questions and think through how he would feel in similar situations. I love a book that inspires good dialogue and these stories certainly delivered on that front.

I also felt that the variety of topics still flowed well with one another. Thankfulness could easily be linked  to letting others go first. Telling the  truth tied to thankfulness. This allowed us to really build onto topics and the concepts of building a strong foundation with our kids, rather than bouncing around through unrelated issues.

My only downfall was the story on forgiveness. While the other stories were age appropriate, well-rounded stories, the forgiveness story is very self-centered with  no mention of making amends (despite the story  allowing for such a conversation), a limited talking about reconciliation (which felt minimized), and no broaching of the  scope of issues which may need forgiveness and the importance of acknowledging the damage. My little guy was so confused by this story and was really concerned that "forgiveness" was just a free pass to getting away with things.

4 out of 5 stars

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookLook Bloggers  book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255  : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.