Book Review Friday, Part 1: Heaven is for Real for Kids

This week, I have two book reviews for you.  Be on the lookout for the second one tomorrow.

You can hardly be a mommy or a member of a church without having heard of the book Heaven is for Real: A Little Boy's Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back.  Countless numbers of my friends have told me “it was AWESOME” or “I couldn’t put it down.”  I still have the adult version of the book in my “to read” stack (which is a bit of a skyscraper, truth be told).  But this week, I at least got to read the picture book version, Heaven is for Real for Kids: A Little Boy's Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back by Todd and Sonja Burpo. 

I read the Kindle version of this book.  My Kindle is admittedly not the best to use for picture books, due to its black and white screen.  However, the pictures were still beautiful and detailed. 

In case you have been living under a rock, the story details how Colton Burpo had a vision of heaven (or visited heaven?) at the age of four during a serious illness which hospitalized him.  I appreciated that the book didn’t go into whether Colton died or not, thereby avoiding a can of worms for a parent to explain.  The book is careful to avoid scary parts of the story and instead focuses on the hope that Christians have.  It expresses this in simple words that are easy for a child to understand.  I really appreciated that the book also included a Bible passage on every page as Colton recounts his vision of heaven.

For people who are looking for big revelations about heaven that they’ve never heard before, this book may be a bit of a disappointment.  There is nothing really new here (and that’s probably a good thing).  All—or virtually all—of Colton’s vision is Biblical.  As the book points out in the Q and A section, a few people in the Bible also got to see (or visit?) heaven, so it is not outrageous for a believer today to have such an experience.  From what I’ve heard about the expanded adult version of the book, Colton had never been told much of the things he saw prior to his vision.  So, maybe the fact that there is nothing new here is simply a testament to the truth of the hope that we have in Christ.  There was a part of me (always the skeptic!) that felt it was a little too convenient how closely the book clung to interpretations of Biblical passages.  Was this truly all new to Colton or had he heard it somewhere?

Either way, we are all encouraged to have the faith of a child and Colton demonstrates that for us.  This book is a helpful resource to teach your children about heaven, with good pictures and not too many words per page.  Many of the Bible verses included would be good memory verses. 

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”