by Hannah E. Harrison
2025 / 32 pages
Rating: Great

George wants us to know that he, and the other sheep in his flock, are a rather helpless lot. They have a bad sense of direction (especially Mabel). They’re all utterly defenseless, what with the lack of claws, and not even a set of top teeth to bare when they growl (and what sheep growls anyway?). And, when they are big and fluffy, if they get tipped over, they might not even be able to right themselves without help.

And “did you know that sheep’s wool just keeps growing, and growing, and growing”?

That, then, is why sheep need a Shepherd.

And, of course, this is why we need One too.

I’m not a big fan, generally, of fictionalized retellings of biblical stories. They strike me as shoddy, and more importantly, arrogant, stand-ins for a story that God decided to deliver to us in His own chosen manner.

But that’s not what’s going on here. This isn’t a retelling of Psalm 23, even as it is clearly referencing it, and even ends with it. This is an explanation to us – a people without a lot of farm experience – of the sheep metaphor God uses here that would have been very familiar to its original audience. It turns out sheep are dumb. Really dumb. So when God, through David, compares us to sheep in need of a shepherd, when we better understand sheep we’ll better understand what God is saying here about our own helpless state.

This is a beautiful picture book that would make a great addition to any school or church library – mom and dad will enjoy reading it to each of their children in turn.