Where Does God Live?

by Holly Bea

Overview

A lively and inquisitive young girl named Hope has a favorite pastime: asking questions. She asks everyone she knows just about anything. One day her musings lead her to a really big question: Where does God live? She talks to her mom. She questions her animal friends. Finally, it is her wise and gentle grandmother whose lifetime of faith offers Hope, the answer that she and all of us can take into our hearts. It is an answer whose simplicity does honor to the Creator.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780915811731
Publisher:	Kramer, H. J., Inc.
Publication date:	01/07/1997
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	373,252
Product dimensions:	9.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)
Age Range:	4 - 10 Years

Editorial Reviews

An inquisitive girl searches high and low for the answers to some difficult questions in this pleasantly satisfying picture book. When Hope begins to wonder where God lives, she interrogates everyone she knows, hoping to figure out the mystery. Hope's mother says that "God lives in Heaven, way up in the sky," and Mr. Frog and Mrs. Fish agree that God lives in the stream and the nearby flowers and trees. But it is Grandma Rose who puts Hope's curiosity to rest with such explanations as, "And when God makes a person, a star or a wave,/ A part of God stays with whatever God made./ So God lives in the sky, in the meadow and stream-/ God lives everywhere, and God isn't a dream." The rhyming, occasionally sing-song text contains many comforting, child-friendly responses to questions about the presence of God in the world. Parents may also welcome this book as an additional resource when confronting the questions of children who are just beginning to encounter issues of faith and belief. Howard's folksy, stylized illustrations are awash in strong color and feature textured brush strokes. Her expressive human and animal figures keep the mood light, though they are occasionally clunky and misshapen. Ages 7-10. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

PreS-Gr 2A number of books, largely from religious presses, offer explanations of God directed to small children. In this one, the concept is broadly introduced in a nongender-specific, nondenominational manner. The core message is that God is the good in all creation, always available to teach, strengthen, and love all people if they ask for help in prayer. Hope, an African-American girl, is delighted by the beauty and goodness of the world around her and wants to know where God lives in it. First she asks her mother and her talking-animal friends. Each has a different opinion. Confused, Hope goes to Grandma Rose for clarification and returns home happy and satisfied. All this is expressed in a rather long, sweetly didactic rhyming text arranged on unusual, exuberant double-page spreads. Flat and primitive, the paintings are decorative, colorful, and vigorous, filled with flowers, animals, and pleasant people. Average in comparison to the many books on this topic.Patricia Pearl Dole, formerly at First Presbyterian School, Martinsville, VA

School Library Journal