A beautiful book to share wit small children about the wonders of life from a seed growing into a flower and to eventual creation of a child. Sweet, tender, and good way to introduce children to the wonderfulness of life without bringing a specific religion. ( )

Sweet book. Loved the message within it.

“The Wonderful Happens” by Cynthia Rylant is one of my favorite children’s books I have read this semester! I think the way it was put together is beautiful. I want to purchase this book for my classroom one day! The book is simplistic, yet sweet and rhythmic. It definitely cheered me up, and is sentimental. It pushes readers to think about life and broadens perspectives about the world around you. The writing is organized and flows from one part to the next. For example, “the wonderful happens every day: peaches grow, bees buzz, and it rains. Water makes tea, apples make pie, and it snows.” Besides the actual writing, I loved the illustrations. They were perfect for this story! On one page, there was the writing with a small illustration. On the opposite page, was a large illustration with a border. The big idea of this story is to get students thinking about nature, the world, and life all around them. Rylant wants her readers to think about all the small things in life that happen every day and makes this world so wonderful. ( )

The earth has wheat that is made into bread, and the wonderful happens
The trees have peaches, to be enjoyed, and baked into pies and the wonderful happens
The houses have windows, deep enough for a cat to sleep, and we gain peace from wathcing the lovely cat, and the wonderful happens
Long before you were here, there was a plan for you, you were born, and the wonderful happened.

This is a lovely, peaceful book. When my granddaughter finished reading it to me, she began all over again, laughing at the ending, smiling at the wonderful that happened when she arrived. ( )

This story is about how things happen. It talks about the steps it takes to get things like a bird or bread. It ends by talking about how wonderful people are and that we happen just like bread, and birds. I thought this book was really cute for a small child to make them feel important.