Sam and the Sticky Situation: A Book About Whining For Kids {Review}
Are you looking for a practical solution to help your kids stop whining?
Looking to God’s Word and encouraging our kids to have cheerful hearts (Prov 17:22) is a must, but there’s another option that can help hit the point home further.
But there is also another great, biblical way we can teach them this as well!
Check out this wonderful book by Ginger Hubbard for kids, Sam and the Sticky Situation: A Book About Whining For Kids in this in-depth book review!
Sam and the Sticky Situation: A Book About Whining For Kids – {Book Review}
*This post may contain affiliate links & referral links, meaning I may earn a small commission should you choose to purchase through post links. This is of course at no extra cost to you and helps keep the blog up and running!
“But I don’t want to eat my breakfast!” “I don’t have enough toys.” “I don’t want to clean my room.”
If you are a parent reading this (and maybe even grandparent) chances are you have heard one of these statements from your kids before.
If you are like me, your first response may be to get frustrated, or wonder how in the world you can get your child to stop whining?
First, you are not alone!
Our children’s (and ours too) natural, sinful desire is to complain when things don’t go their way.
Hey, even as adults we whine about things too, right? It just looks different. We want a bigger house, a better car, wish it wasn’t raining at the ball game, etc.
So not only do we have to help direct and guide our children out of whining but model it ourselves as well.
One way we can help our kids with whining is through this wonderful, Christ-focused book by Ginger Hubbard, Sam and the Sticky Situation!
Keep reading for our in-depth review, thoughts, (good and bad), and if this book is right for your family…
What is Sam and the Sticky Situation About?
This book is about Sam, a little boy who whines and whines and whines to get his way.
Because of his constant whining, he lands himself in a very NOT fun, “sticky” situation… literally! There is some humor as well, and a great representation of God’s grace.
Something I appreciate about this book is at the end (I won’t give too much away) Sam realizes his sin after hearing his mom confess hers first. A beautiful picture of God’s grace to us, and us to our kids!
How is it laid out? We’ll look at that next…
Book Layout
This book follows a very easy-to-read layout, and flows well.
It’s written in rhyming stanzas, in an almost sing-songy way. Some of the rhymes are slightly forced, but I didn’t find it any more difficult to read and it didn’t take away from the story!
Each page has really cute illustrations, with 3-6 stanzas on each page. The story flows well and will have your kids laughing too!
What Ages Is This Book For?
This book would be great reading material for later elementary to read on their own, or you can read it to your young preschool-aged children.
It would be great for daytime reading, adding it as a read-aloud for your morning basket, or even a bedtime story!
You can also add in some scriptures about having thankful hearts, and make it a short devotion for kids OR use it as a lesson for family Bible time!
It would really be great for ALL ages of kids, because we can all understand the benefits of learning what God says about whining.
Where Can I Get This Book?
This book is available in lots of places!
One of those places is New Growth Press, a Christian publishing company – seriously they have SO many good books, run sales all the time, and they are such quality material! We own many from them.
Grab this book (plus more!) from New Growth Press HERE.
You can also pick this book up for the full price on Amazon, and it’ll be there super quick if you have Prime shipping.
Grab this book on Amazon HERE.
Pros and Cons of This Book About Whining for Kids
Whenever I read a book review, I like to see the pros and cons – I want the truth on what people liked and didn’t like!
Go ahead and take a look at some of the things we liked about this book, as well as some things we didn’t like, below.
Pros:
Here are some positives to this book, and what we really enjoy about it…
- Solid, biblical teaching showing repentance and grace
- Easy to read with the rhyme format
- This book made my daughter laugh out loud with the humor
- A storyline that children can relate to
Cons:
There were a few things I wasn’t too thrilled about with this book, but this is just my two cents!
- The beginning shows the mom’s actions which seem a little extreme to me – her “throwing” the laundry for example
- The story focuses a little more on the problem rather than the solution – the last page wraps up everything very quickly, whereas Chloe and the Closet of Secrets has a bigger arc
- The mom gives into her child’s whining a few too many times – but we do that sometimes as parents, so I get it!
Even with the cons, I would still recommend this book – we enjoy reading it and I love the way she points everything back to Jesus!
It’s a great lesson on whining for kids. 🙂
All around this is a great book to add to your bookshelf at home, church, library, etc… anywhere!
Help Your Kids Whine Less With This Book!
This would be a great addition to your home book collection.
Not only is it an enjoyable read but you can rest assured that you are instilling good, biblical teaching in your children when it comes to our actions, and having an attitude of gratitude!
Looking for more resources on other topics such as whining in your kids, check out my review of Ginger’s other book, Chloe and the Closet of Secrets: A Book About Lying!
*This book was given to me as a complimentary gift, but all opinions are my own!
