Bread for the Winter

Title: Bread for the Winter 

Author: Harvey Yoder

Illustrations: Igor Kondratyuk

3&4th 

    This book is about a young boy, Pavel, who lives in Romania. He and his family have immigrated from Belarus to Romania. They were not able to grow food and support their families, so they moved to Romania where the dark, black earth produced much food. Pavel and his family worked hard during the summer to insure that their crops would grow. Finally, it was time to harvest the wheat and garden. God bless them with plenty of wheat and other crops. 

    Soon, news came to villages that tax collectors from the government were coming to each village and taking away their crops. Pavel is worried. If the tax collectors take their wheat what will they eat? Then one day, the tax collectors do come. Will Pavel and his family be able to host them with grace and trust the Lord to provide? 

    This book is a reminder to us all to trust in the Lord. It’s a good book for children to read to broaden their horizons. They will enjoy reading about Pavel and may even identify with a few of his worries. Most importantly, they will read about the Lord’s provision and how we do not need to worry, just trust God. However, I did take a bit of points off for the character development. Other than that, it was delightfully written.