God's Dream: Picture Book on God's Love for All People

      God's Dream is one of my favorite books to read to my kids. It uses very sweet illustrations and gentle language to describe God's love. The book describes how no matter our differences: race, gender, religion, nationality, we are all children of God, and can bring God's dream into fruition by showing love to one another. I particularly appreciate the nondenominational language, and the wide variety of children included in the illustrations. A cute dog and a cat are even included as examples of God's love, which my kids think is particularly fun.
     In addition to talking about the general message of the book, the kids like to examine the different children in the story and ask questions about the clothes, or what each other children are doing. Looking at the picttures, we have talked about how people kiss cheeks to greet one another; about yarmalukes; about traditional dress and about praying on prayer mats. Also, because Amani is going through an "all boys are terrible' phase", I like that they books shows a boy and a girl arguing then resolving their issue as an example of creating God's dream.
     The creators of this book are heavy lifters when it comes to theology and children's literature. For me the big draw of this book were the book's illustrations done by LeUyen Pham. They children have these large eyes and sweet round baby faces, and the backgrounds are different types of traditional prints from around the world. Pham has author and illustration credits in all kinds of children's formats including comic books, short illustrated novels for younger readers, and original picture books. She has worked with all the big names including Mo Willems, Juliana Moore, and Alexander McCall Smith. Basically anything she does is fantastic. 
    Desmond Tutu is a prolific writer on multicultral theology. A Nobel Peace Prize Winner for his work during apartheid, he is a leading religious thinker throughout the world. He has written about 20 books for adults, largely about forgiveness, and approaching differences with love. His most recent book, written in cooperation with the Dalai Lama looks adorable judging from their two sweet-old-man faces smiling on the cover. was a leading religious author throughout the world. The combination of Pham and Tutu basically makes this book essentail component of your library if you are truly committed to recieving your "liberal Catholic" ID card.