“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another;
just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.”
John 13:3
Meg is Not Alone is the third book in the TGC Kids series, and it reflects on the story about Meg, a little girl, who is left behind by her parents at church. While she’s bust jumping for her coat, her parents both think the other is taking Meg home. Only when Meg comes out from the coat area, her parents aren’t there. After looking around for her parents, her Sunday School teacher Mrs. Hughes asks why she’s there on her own. With tears and a squeaky voice (which kids will recognize) Meg tells Mrs. Hughes she doesn’t know where her parents are.
After this a few different church members come over to Meg to help her. One man lets her use his phone to call her dad while another lady brings Meg some cookies. A big bearded man brings her a stack of Sunday School books (including two very familiar books), and one boy brings tissues to Meg. Eventually her dad comes and gets her, and she isn’t scared anymore. He tells her that God took care of her while he was away, and that he did so through their church family. “They love us because they love God. And God shows his love for us by sending them to help.”
As a kid I lived three minutes away by car from my church. It was a straight shot from my street to the church too. I knew exactly how to get to church and home even if it were dark. Were drove that path many times each week. Even still, if I thought my parents were gone when I was at church, I would begin to panic. The trouble was that there were three different buildings they could have been in, and there was a large lawn for me to have to run around when I needed to find them.
While it never happened, I knew no one at the church was going to leave me there alone (at least I hoped), and I knew people knew how to bring me home. I knew they would have cared for me and made sure I was safe. Meg is Not Alone illustrates how God shows his love for us through our church family. No kid wants to be away from the very people who make them feel safest (which, sadly, isn’t always the parents), but this book touches on a nerve that I think a lot of kids think about from time to time. Those moments running through church to find their parents. Everyone is so tall. Where are they? Why are there so many people here? What were they wearing again? This is a lesson to kids that they can feel safe at church, even if they can’t see their parents at a given moment (or if they’re left behind).
The book is illustrated well by Samara Hardy. People look natural and not stiff, no matter if they are standing, sitting, eating cookies, or giving a hug. There are also a few scenes with familiar characters or items from the previous two TGC Kids books. If you’re familiar with them, look below and see if you recognize anyone.
Recommended?
This is a helpful lesson to kids that even in those moments when they can’t find their parents, they’re still safe at church. But it’s also a helpful reminder both to them and to adults that we live in a lonely world. With social media isolating us from each other and weekly errands and business crowding out time for friendship and fellowship, it’s easy to feel lonely. But when we attend Sunday services with our church family, we should (hopefully) feel like we’re in the company of people who love us. One way you could use this book is as that reminder that church is a place where people care. We as parents still need to be cautious when we’re at church; there are too many sad stories of abuse. But equally, the church is the place where we meet God’s people, and he often shows his love for us through them.
Lagniappe
- Series: TGC Kids
- Author: Megan Hill
- Illustrator: Samara Hardy
- Reading Level: 3–8 years
- Hardcover: 32 pages
- Publisher: Crossway (November 29, 2022)
Buy it on Amazon or from Crossway
Disclosure: I received this book free from Crossway. The opinions I have expressed are my own, and I was not required to write a positive review. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html.
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