Tokesi Akinola's Sarah's Perfect Gift is a tender, faith-infused children's story that tackles the familiar pain of childhood bullying through the lens of Christian self-acceptance. In just two concise chapters, Akinola delivers a clear moral lesson about identity and resilience, but the simplicity that makes the story accessible also limits its artistic and emotional depth.
At the heart of the narrative is Sarah, a young girl whose self-image is eroded by the taunts of her classmates, who cruelly nickname her "big eyeballs." The opening scene, with Sarah lying awake in dread of the coming school day, captures the quiet terror of childhood shame with a commendable emotional sensitivity. It's in these intimate, understated moments that Akinola's gift for empathetic storytelling becomes apparent.
However, Sarah's Perfect Gift rarely strays from the safety of its central message. The mother's reassurance that Sarah's features are "gifts from God" anchors the story firmly in a Christian worldview, a framework that provides spiritual comfort but little room for interpretive complexity. The theme of divine design is uplifting but predictable, and the narrative's resolution feels almost too neat: one act of self-assertion in a lunchroom is all it takes to silence the bullies and restore Sarah's confidence.
The prose is clean and well-pitched for younger readers, and the illustrations are expressive and bright, effectively capturing Sarah's emotional journey from anxiety to affirmation. The inclusion of scriptural reinforcement ("Foundation of Truth" - Psalm 139:14), reflection points, and discussion prompts elevates the text from simple fiction to a structured educational resource. Within Christian pedagogy, these additions are an asset, offering parents and teachers ready-made material for guided moral reflection.
Yet, viewed through a wider cultural and literary lens, Sarah's Perfect Gift opts for reassurance over realism. The bullies exist as moral symbols rather than characters, and the conflict's resolution feels idealised, an airbrushed version of emotional growth. Akinola's approach reflects a broader tendency in faith-based children's fiction to prioritise affirmation over interrogation. The result is a story that consoles but does not challenge, comforts but does not complicate.
This does not diminish the sincerity or value of Akinola's work. Sarah's Perfect Gift succeeds on its own terms: as a spiritually grounded tale of self-worth and a resource for cultivating empathy and resilience in young readers. Its warmth and clarity make it ideal for faith-based settings, even if it stops short of the psychological nuance seen in contemporary secular children's literature.
Ultimately, Sarah's Perfect Gift is a parable of acceptance that prefers balm to confrontation. It reassures children that they are "wonderfully and perfectly made", a truth that may comfort the heart, even if it leaves the mind slightly under-stimulated.