Thoughts to Make Your Heart Sing
Illustrated with dramatic, soft-edged digital artwork, the 101 free-verse poems in this spacious collection present Christian messages from the Bible to talk about at home and in church groups. The frequent question-and-answer format adds to the conversational tone, starting with lines accompanying an image of a huge horse leaping across the end pages: “God loves the horse / how much more must he love you?” “Dance!” shows “the whole universe dancing around the sun.” In contrast is “Cataclysm!,” which discusses planets that are in uproar because “we sinned.” Some entries are lighthearted: just as you don’t put porridge in a car engine, the Bible says don’t put anyone except God in the center of your life. Most, though, are serious and may disturb some, even as they stress forgiveness: God transformed murderers such as Moses and St. Paul into heroic leaders—“what could he do for you?” At the bottom of each page is the biblical passage on which the poem is based, and appended sources are paired with “more things to think about.” Grades 1-4. --Hazel Rochman