Snuggle Time Love

Glenys Nellist

When my husband and I got married a long time ago, the family of one of my students gave us a magnet for our refrigerator. It had 1 Corinthians 13: 4-8 printed on it and it has moved with us from each home, hanging prominently among our collection of magnets. Our children have grown up with it, assembling words with letter magnets around it, seeing what else they could add to it. (Did you know that love is also silly and jocular according to my kids?) Another constant in our home is a large selection of high quality children’s literature. My kids all have their favorites and volumes are strewn around on couches, under beds, on top of tables, and tucked onto window sills. When Glenys Nellist’s newest addition to her Snuggle Time series, Snuggle Time Love, arrived on my doorstep from the publisher, I really should not have been surprised when my toddler ripped open the mailer, squealed with joy because he is a Snuggle Time series superfan, called to us, “I be back eeen a minyet, Mama. I put dis away.” As he squirreled the book away on the windowsill next to his bed, he gave me a good opportunity to practice love being patient because really, that mailer was addressed to me. 

Snuggle Time Love takes apart several of the phrases from 1 Corinthians 13: 4-8 and delves more deeply into the meanings of this beautiful passage. Told with gently cadenced rhymes and paired with soft, colorful illustrations, this board book is meant to be enjoyed by caregivecrs and children time and again. Each page spread stands alone, meaning you can have a short snuggle sesh (as my toddler likes to call it) with just one poem or you can cuddle up for a longer read when your child and time allow. Children will respond to the rhymes, telling the story along with the reader after a few repeated readings. This will be powerful for both children and caregivers; they will have a shared language and ready response when they run up against challenging behaviors. You can gently remind that “love means that we’ll still be friends, and we can talk things through, Now you know what love is—It’s not that hard to do!” when you are in the middle of a disagreement and emotions are running high. 

There are so many ways you can use this book in your ministry. Yes, it’s a perfect selection for a Christmas, Easter, Valentines, or birthday gift for families with young children. Send it along with some heart cut outs, fancy markers, and pre stamped envelopes so they can send love to a shut in member of the congregation or a loved one that lives far away. Pop it into your little free library or laundromat library- it’s a great selection for young ones to enjoy. It’s also durable, so it will last through multiple readings. It’s a great spine for a children’s moment series during worship. But I wouldn’t stop with young children and their families. I would use this book in a faith formation class for youth and for adults. Spend 10 weeks examining each page spread and pair it with Visio divina, having class participants take photos/choose photos from their camera rolls that relate to that session’s portion of the passage. Or you could pair it with critical lens readings of the news, searching for stories that exemplify what love does look like and how it gets carried out in our current day. This book allows for a deeper dive into this famous passage and is not just for young children. Do you need this book in your collection, even if you do not work with or live with young children? Yes, yes you do. 

Want to win a copy? Of course you do! Pop back here for a giveaway on Friday, November 18.