Kids Talk About Heaven
How You Get There, and How You Don't
Eric Marshall
Colour illustrations by Jennifer Goodson
ISBN 1856265854
Kyle Cathie, 2003
£5.99
Eric Marshall is co-editor of the best-selling "Children's Letters to God" (more than two million copies sold worldwide, ISBN 1856263061, also from Kyle Cathie) and with this compilation it looks like he's onto another winner.
The publisher's own blurb sums it up beautifully: "Big people aren't the only ones pondering big questions. Children are natural-born philosophers. They wonder and speculate and worry about death, God, love, hope, eternity and uncertainty – and they often come up with uncanny ways of unravelling the mysteries of life."
A couple of my personal favourites from the book:
"Celestial music is what they have in Heaven and in church. It's OK, but not all the time."
"Heaven is all the love in the world collected in one place."
There are kids' comments on heaven and hell, on saints and celebrities, and all in the direct style that it usually takes a child to achieve. Jesus said, "To enter the Kingdom of heaven you've got to become like a child" – this is a book that proves his point. There's a place for theologians and philosophers, certainly, but there's a guaranteed place in God's heart for these children.
Some comments you'll laugh at, others you'll probably weep over, but at £5.99 this is an ideal stocking-filler for Christmas. Wholeheartedly recommended.
Phil Groom, November 2003
Phil Groom is this site's Webmaster and Reviews Editor. He's a freelance blogger, writer and web developer who spent ten years managing the bookshop at London School of Theology alongside eight years writing web reviews for Christian Marketplace magazine before he came to his senses and went independent. You can find him on facebook or follow him on twitter @notbovvered.
