God’s Dream by Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Douglas Carlton Abrams, illustrated by LeUyen Pham
Open the first spread of this warm little wonder – just out as a durably thick board book for the chunkiest little fingers – and marvel at those sleeping, trusting, dreaming faces … one peach, one pink, one mocha, clutching their favorite stuffed toys atop multi-colored, multi-textured blankets and pillows spread across the wide floor, even their feline friend close by in trusting slumber. Rendered by the ever-versatile, hugely talented LeUyen Pham, even the most jaded will agree that THIS is what the world should look like …
“Dear Child of God, What do you dream about in your loveliest of dreams,” queries Nobel Prize-winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu, one of the world’s greatest voices of world peace. Written together with novelist Douglas Carlton Abrams with whom Tutu wrote his 2004 adult memoir, God Has a Dream, Tutu shares his hopes for children everywhere … “about people sharing … people caring.”
He points out that “God does not force us to be friends or to love one another,” that even the youngest children can get angry and be hurtful, but forgiveness can “wipe away our tears and God’s tears, too.” Regardless of all our many differences, “[e]ach of us carries a piece of God’s heart within us … because we are all God’s children.”
Put this hopeful book in the littlest hands. Peace has to begin somewhere … why not with God’s Dream? “It is really quite easy,” the good Archbishop promises. How can you argue with that?
Readers: Children
Published: 2008, 2010 (board book)
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