I'll be honest. I'd seen this book in the checkout aisle at the supermarket a few weeks ago and scoffed at it a little bit. Hearing about a toddler's near-death experience? Yawn. Hearing about him recount a trip to Heaven and back? I was dubious. But when this book popped up as an e-reader download, I decided to give it a shot. If nothing else, I figured I'd breeze through it in a day or two (it's pretty short), and if it ended up being a joke I wouldn't really be out anything.
And you know what? I was taken aback by it. Sure, it's very easy to count the book as farce and a marketing ploy by the family to pocket a little extra money. There's no real concrete proof that the things the parents say happened in this book actually happened. But just like the act of believing in an unseen God and Heaven requires faith, so does believing in this book. And I choose to be on the side that does believe in miracles, that does believe that this little boy did actually have an experience in Heaven that he can recount in the casual way only an innocent toddler could. And it made the book very enjoyable, if not shocking at times.
If part of you believes or wants to believe that these kinds of acts can happen, then this book is a great read. If you are cynical about acts of faith, well, you probably won't enjoy this book (unless it brings you satisfaction to rip apart and criticize the beliefs of others). If you doubt, then maybe, just maybe, this book could be the one to turn those doubts into beliefs.
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