In God's House: Children's Drawings

Famous for his acclaimed book series, Children in Crisis (which includes The Spiritual Life of Children), as well as for his work with inner-city children, Coles here selects a number of children's drawings that illustrate the children's understandings of the nature of God and God's relationship to the world. Each child's drawing is accompanied by his or her description of the drawing. Twelve-year-old Tim explains his crayon drawing of the figure of God standing in the clouds by saying that ""God is always with us,"" while Carl, also 12, says of his depiction of a black castle above the clouds: ""God lives in heaven above the clouds. His house is a big castle. Jesus is standing there. It is a scary place. I'm scared to draw this."" Without exception, each child's comments and drawings express the wonder, the awe and the self-awareness that grows out of his or her contemplation of God's activity in the world. As Coles writes of these children and their drawings: ""Their minds are eager to fathom the world's mysteries, including those of faith, or of what lies ahead in God's scheme of things."" All ages. (July)