Five-year-old Tyler Nash starts the conversation by asking,
“Is there baseball in heaven?”
His mother answers, “No one really knows what heaven is
like. But I believe that heaven is better than anything we could imagine here
on earth… If I had to guess, I’d say yes…”
From there on, the two imagine heaven as being filled with ice
cream, music, roller coasters, movies, sleepovers, jellybeans, birthday
parties, a zoo, and so on.
The book layout remains consistent: two-page spreads with
the illustrations, done by Trent and Kara Smith, on one side and the text on
the other. Text length varies from a few short paragraphs to a full
top-to-bottom page.
What I Like: The illustrations are bright and hold enough detail to keep
the interest of the reader.What I Dislike: Overall, I wish the story focused more on what Scripture does tell us about heaven (with Scripture references to back it up) and speculate less on unknown details. Or perhaps I would have been more comfortable if the author had been consistent in saying something along the lines of, "I bet..." or “The Bible doesn’t tell us, so we don’t know, but it’s possible God could…” instead of using definitive language like, “Of course” and “Definitely”. Without Scripture references to back up the claims, I think this is somewhat confusing to kids. Does the Bible really say there are jellybeans in heaven or not? (Many other children's books about heaven give Bible references for the ideas claimed in the book, but this author does not.) So, while I agree with the author that heaven will be better than anything we could imagine, I'm not certain it will have amusement parks or jellybeans.
Age Appeal: None is suggested, but I think it works for the K-1 crowd.
Publisher Info: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2014; ISBN: 978-1499767728; Paperback, 30 pgs., $9.99
This book is NOT available at Christianbook.com.
Buy it at Amazon.com for $9.99.
Special Info: Read other CCBR reviews on books about heaven.
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