I Can Only Imagine by Bart Millard with Laura Neutzling

A Friendship with Jesus Now and Forever

Illustrated by Sumiti Collina

Based very loosely on the popular song, "I can Only Imagine" this is a beautiful children's book, written in rhyme, that tries to imagine what heaven is like and what God is like.

"I can only imagine what God thinks is fun.
We could jump in the lake and soak in the sun,
Splishing and splashing and shouting, 'Hooray!'
Would God like to float on a warm summer day?"

It starts out with "The more I imagine, the more I wish I knew."  How true that is. Heaven, in so many ways, seems a mystery. We know it will be amazingly wonderful beyond anything we can imagine and yet it can feel so stiff and far off too. While a lot of the things in this book seem far fetched, who really knows? Quite possibly there could be pancakes in heaven, they would be the best ever, of course. The one thing I like about this is it makes heaven seem real and personal. It feels like something children can grab a hold of and imagine about as well. While we might feel we are beyond wondering if we will need to make our bed, that can be a real thing for children who are in the throes of learning to do these kinds of tasks.

I also like the idea of God playing with the children. Again, it feels far out there, like God will just be sitting on His throne, but who really knows? What I do know is He will be personal and approachable.  So I think this can be a great book for triggering imagination and curiosity about heaven in little people's minds.

On top of the story line, the book is a very nice hardcover with a dust jacket. The illustrations are very well done. The children are not completely real to life, but neither are they caricatures that don't look like people. And the colors are vibrant and clean. It's just a well done book.

And as I already mentioned, it's written in rhyming form. Any children's book written in rhyme automatically gets a higher grade from me. I love reading rhyming books to my daughter. They don't get old near as quick when you read them over and over.

I received this book from Book Look Bloggers and was not required to write a positive review.