Most parents that have little kids brag about their child scoring a goal in a soccer game or maybe getting a picture they drew in a school-held art show but at only four years old Colton Burpo has been to heaven and back. As the Burpo’s drove by the hospital in their small town in Nebraska on a trip to see family, Colton remembered being in there when the angels sang to him as he sat on Jesus’ lap. Colton had been rushed into the hospital for an emergency appendectomy. During the surgery he said to have left his body, gone to heaven, and came back.
This book is very well written and makes you think about what is real to you. Throughout the book the narrator, Colton’s dad, tells you about his son’s trip to heaven and back as they herd it. Colton would give them bits and pieces of his ‘adventure’ at random times. The book focuses on the dad’s experiences with Colton telling his and his reactions to the stories. The mom is there as a minor character with the sister, Cassie. The writing of the book was average. The father wrote the book but is obviously not a writer. The grammar was not bad or incorrect but it was too played up. The editor must have wanted to make it seem more ‘professional’. There are literary elements and visuals but they are not subtle. When I was reading I could tell they were trying to fit them in but didn’t know how or when to. “The three of us sat in the cold, narrow hallway, Sonja cradling Colton, his head against her shoulder. She was crying pretty steadily now.” This is a good example of what I mean. A real, good writer would show not tell this line. He could have said; sitting in that hallway felt like sitting on a stone in the middle of December. Or he could have said; there was a glimmering wet stream down her cheeks as she held Colton like he was a new born again.
The overall quality of the book was pretty good. The story they were trying to get across did. And sank in well. The book was not a religion book that said there is a heaven and all babies go there and everyone is happy. It gets those points across but through a four year olds view so it is the simple facts of heaven. A four year old could not make up those stories. Or could he? It is a very interesting approach to the book. If an adult were to tell me those things I would think yea ok that’s nice. But when a little boy tells me, I can’t help but believe him. “Hey, Colton,” I said. “Remember when we were in the car and you talked about sitting on Jesus’ lap?”Still on his knees, he looked up at me. “Yeah.” “Well, did anything else happen?” He nodded, eyes bright. “Did you know that Jesus has a cousin? Jesus told me his cousin baptized him.” A little boy would not know this just from Sunday school. In one part of the book it shows a picture of Jesus that a little girl drew that said she too had been to heaven. Before every picture of Jesus had been wrong but this one he said was him. It was a weird feeling looking at the picture. It was different than any I had seen before. You have to see it to understand what I mean by a weird feeling.
I would give this book an 8/10 overall. It was a good book with a good message. I didn’t care for the writing style of the book but the story itself made up for it. I would recommend it to my friends and family. Even if you don’t believe in heaven or Jesus, it is still worth reading.
