Premium Members Get 10% Off and Earn Rewards Find Out More

You're Here for a Reason

Add to Wishlist

You're Here for a Reason

Hardcover

$16.99 ~~$18.99~~ Save 11%

View All Available Formats & Editions

Hardcover
$16.99 ~~$18.99~~ Save 11% Current price is $16.99, Original price is $18.99. You Save 11%.

View All Available Formats & Editions

SHIP THIS ITEM

Qualifies for Free Shipping
PICK UP IN STORE
Check Availability at Nearby Stores

Available within 2 business hours

Want it Today?
Check Store Availability

Related collections and offers

Want it Today?
Check Store Availability

Overview

Every person matters. Here, national-bestselling and beloved author Nancy Tillman shows readers how each of us fits into life's big picture, and how the world would be incomplete without you in it.

You're here for a reason. If you think you're not

I would just say that perhaps you forgot . . .

a piece of the world that is precious and dear

would surely be missing if you weren't here.

Product Details
About the Author

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250056269
Publisher:	Feiwel & Friends
Publication date:	09/01/2015
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	78,385
Product dimensions:	10.00(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Nancy Tillman is the author and illustrator of the New York Times best-selling picture book On the Night You Were Born and its companion journal, The Wonder of You: A Book for Celebrating Baby's First Year. Her other books include Wherever You Are: My Love Will Find You, The Spirit of Christmas, and Tumford the Terrible. A former advertising executive, Tillman now writes and illustrates full-time. She lives in Tualatin, Oregon.

From the B&N Reads Blog

Page 1 of

September’s Top Picks in Picture Books

Leave those lazy summer days in the rearview: It’s September, and the return of school nights is cause for celebration! Let your kids bring the jammies and the squeaky-clean hair—you’ll bring the exciting new stories. To help, we’ve handpicked our favorite picture books this month. Whether you’re ready to meet a crayon with a conscience, […]

Our Favorite Picture Books of 2015

Every month, we bring you a kaleidoscopic stack of picture books to share with your favorite little readers. Some of the stories we highlight are thoughtful and poignant, while others are downright silly. And a few of the tales are long-awaited follow-ups, mentioned right alongside fresh outpourings from newbie authors and illustrators. In the end, […]

06/29/2015
Tillman (The Heaven of Animals) pairs her characteristically cheerful exhortations with layered mixed-media artwork in which startlingly real-looking children and animals play. The children dance with tigers, play soccer with kangaroos, and cuddle with pandas as Tillman assures readers that every life has a purpose: “Life works together, the good and the bad,/ the silly and awful, and happy and sad,/ to paint a big picture we can’t always see.../ a picture that needs you, most definitely.” In this interconnected world, she suggests, children’s good deeds have effects that they may never know about (“A kindness, for instance, may triple for days.../ or set things in motion in different ways”). She pictures the good deeds and the distance they travel as a boy, accompanied by a blue elephant, lets go of his colorful, long-tailed kite. A fox uses it as a sled for her kits, and the ribbons become a bridle for a moose and adorn a bird’s nest, which serves as a boat for a ferret. Polished artwork and character-building verse make this just as desirable as Tillman’s previous books. Ages 4–8. Agent: Cathy Hemming, Cathy Hemming Literary Agency (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

09/01/2015
PreS-Gr 2—Tillman's latest examines the struggle humans have with the idea of "purpose." She speaks as though addressing a child, repeating the refrain "you're here for a reason" and explaining that good things happen to others because of the child. Her answer to this life question may be unsatisfactory or too simplistic for some. Nevertheless, she fashions it into an encouraging sentiment that gives peace of mind. To evoke this sense, Tillman illustrates children mingling with animals in a vibrantly colored, dreamlike realm. As usual, her characteristic, almost photographic, digital and mixed-media paintings complement the soothing cadence of the text and beautiful rhyme. Goodwill spreads from page to page in the shape of a kite and a ball, showing how actions affect the world. Tillman frames her lovely poem with the idea of a puzzle, starting the verse that reads, "If not for your hands and your eyes and your feet,/the world, like a puzzle, would be incomplete" and ending with an image of a globe made up of puzzle pieces, depicting the paintings in the book.. It may not be obvious, but every person is a piece required to form the whole. VERDICT Fans of Tillman's previous titles will want to get this one as well; another ideal bedtime story for children and guardians to share.—Rachel Forbes, Oakville Public Library, Ontario, Canada

School Library Journal

2015-06-23
The sultana of high-fructose sentimentality reminds readers that they really are all that. Despite the title, we're actually here for a couple of reasons. In fulsome if vague language Tillman embeds one message, that acts of kindness "may triple for days… / or set things in motion in different ways," in a conceptually separate proposition that she summarizes thus: "perhaps you forgot— / a piece of the world that is precious and dear / would surely be missing if you weren't here." Her illustrations elaborate on both themes in equally abstract terms: a lad releases a red kite that ends up a sled for fox kits, while its ribbons add decorative touches to bird nests and a moose before finally being vigorously twirled by a girl and (startlingly) a pair of rearing tigers. Without transition the focus then shifts as the kite is abruptly replaced by a red ball. Both embodied metaphors, plus children and animals, gather at the end for a closing circle dance. The illustrator lavishes attention throughout on figures of children and wild animals, which are depicted with such microscopically precise realism that every fine hair and feather is visible, but she then floats them slightly above hazy, generic backdrops. The overall design likewise has a slapdash feel, as some spreads look relatively crowded with verses while others bear only a single line or phrase. Patchy work, both visually and teleologically. (Picture book. 6-8)

Kirkus Reviews

"In these pages, readers get the sense of spying on a secret world—and [the] potent combination of unapologetic sentiment, fantasy, photorealism, and painterliness has an undeniable allure." —Publishers Weekly for Wherever You Are, My Love Will Find You
“A beautiful tribute to the uniqueness of every child.” —Kirkus Reviews on On the Night You Were Born
"This is one of those rare baby books that should make both skeptics and sentimentalists of all ages happy." —Publishers Weekly, for On the Night You Were Born
"A beautiful and timeless book." —School Library Journal for The Spirit of Christmas

From the Publisher

You're Here for a Reason

You're Here for a Reason

Hardcover

Hardcover

Related collections and offers

Overview

Product Details

About the Author

Customer Reviews

Related Searches

Explore More Items

Related collections and offers

Overview

Product Details

About the Author

Related Subjects

Customer Reviews