Heaven Is for Real for Kids: A Little Boy's Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back

by Colton Burpo (As Told by), Todd Burpo (With), Sonja Burpo (With), Wilson Ong (Illustrator)

Overview

Heaven is for real, and you are going to like it!

Colton Burpo came back from his trip to heaven with a very important message: Jesus really, really loves children. In an effort to reach even more families with this eternally significant story, this runaway bestseller is now told from Colton—kid to kids! Children will receive the same comfort and assurance that so many adults have received from the trade book.

Beautifully illustrated under Colton's direction, he shares his experiences in first person and comments on things that will be important to kids. A letter to parents is included to guide them as they talk to their children about heaven. Scripture along with a Q&A section with answers from the Bible are also included in the book.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781418590710
Publisher:	HarperCollins Christian Publishing
Publication date:	08/22/2023
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	552,112
Lexile:	AD580L (what's this?)
File size:	23 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Todd Burpo is pastor of Crossroads Wesleyan and a volunteer fireman. He and his wife, Sonja, have four children: Colton is an active teenager; he has an older sister, Cassie; a younger brother, Colby; and a very special sister he met in heaven. Sonja Burpo is a busy mom and pastor's wife. A certified elementary teacher, Sonja is passionate about children's ministry and helping women work through the difficulty of miscarriage.

Sonja Burpo is a busy mom and pastor's wife. A certified teacher in the state of Nebraska, she has taught in the public school system both in Oklahoma as well as in Imperial. Sonja is passionate about children's ministry and helping women through the difficulty of miscarriage.

Editorial Reviews

2014-05-02
This picture-book adaptation of the Burpos' 2010 account for adults of then-4-year-old Colton's near-death experience comes with a built-in audience but doesn't reach much further than it.A note to parents and grandparents precedes a two-page explanation that, during a visit to the hospital, "Colton closed his eyes, and when he opened them— / Jesus was with him!" The boy's brief sojourn in heaven is related in an ingenuous child's voice laced with exclamation marks. Readers learn that "Heaven is not scary—ever!" and that "Everyone is happy there!" He meets a number of biblical celebrities, his great-grandfather and—tellingly and horrifically—"my big sister [who] was so excited to see me that she wouldn't stop hugging me!" Several pages of description of heavenly delights follow before Jesus explains that he is "answering your dad's prayer" and returning him to this vale of tears. Children entranced by the happy animals and Michael's awesome flaming sword will feel that Colton got a very bad deal. Ong paints a supersoft-focus heaven populated by white-robed angels and a crowned Jesus. Aside from an appealingly rainbow-maned white horse and the welcome inclusion of dark-skinned angels (none of them named characters), the aesthetic is one that recalls mass-produced mid-20th-century Sunday school materials. Believers may well be charmed by Colton's close encounter; nonbelievers will suspect that Colton's account of heaven owes more to his parents' stories of his big sister's afterlife than actual experience.Is heaven for real? Maybe, but this book is not likely to persuade any skeptics. (Picture book. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews