A young boy emerges from life-saving surgery with remarkable stories of his visit to heaven. Heaven is for Real is the true story of the four-year old son of a small town Nebraska pastor who during emergency surgery slips from consciousness and enters heaven. He survives and begins talking about being able to look down and see the doctor operating and his dad praying in the waiting room. The family didn't know what to believe but soon the evidence was clear. Colton said he met his miscarried sister, whom no one had told him about, and his great grandfather who died 30 years before Colton was born, then shared impossible-to-know details about each. He describes the horse that only Jesus could ride, about how "reaaally big" God and his chair are, and how the Holy Spirit "shoots down power" from heaven to help us. Told by the father, but often in Colton's own words, the disarmingly simple message is heaven is a real place, Jesus really loves children, and be ready, there is a coming last battle

My Thoughts: This book is absolutely wonderful. I cried...and laughed and sat absolutely amazed at what I was reading about Colton and his family. This book is a must read--especially for anyone who is questioning if there is a God--a heaven--and where we go when we die. We often hear that truth comes from children....they haven't enough imagination at that young an age to make up a lot of lies and such....and they are brutally honest! We accept this with normal every day things....so, even though Colton may be talking about topics that are usually hard--he is putting them in the perspective of a 3 year old. The comments he makes are straight-forward and without guile. I give this book a 5/5. It needs to be one you look up and add to your bookshelf!

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This is a good spiritual read. Give you the tingles and makes you realize that some things really are true and gives a glimpse into heaven.

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Colton Burpo's story was a refreshing and surprisingly accurate portrait of what awaits each of us whose destiny is Heaven. I read the book with a critical eye. I couldn't find any fault with them. His tale seemed honest. His descriptions fit the way a child would describe things, not one whose words had been fed him by an adult. Some of his revelations were simply amazing!

You can find something here that will warm your heart and quite possibly help ease your pain. This book is a sweet, touching, and amazing story. I think you'll be blessed by it.

What this book is meant to do, strengthen your faith, encourage you in your walk with Christ, and maybe just maybe long for Heaven just a little bit more.

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This book was amazing! The author, a pastor and Colton's father, shares with us his son's amazing journey to Heaven and back. This book doesn't feel preachy or judgmental. Instead, I got a very good sense of the fear and anxiety any parent would feel over their child's serious illness and their frustration at not being able to fix it.

I appreciated Todd Burpo's open and frank retelling of his frustration leading to getting angry at God and yelling at God. We can all relate to him feeling this way as we all tend to want to lash out our anger during situations we cannot control. I felt a lot of empathy for the Burpo family after the numerous medical challenges Todd had already faced, they now had to face the very scary fear that their only son could die.

The feelings of empathy turned to feelings of amazement when Colton makes a miraculous recovery, though his family still does not know the extent of what Colton went through, beyond the medical procedures. It isn't until on a family trip several months later that Colton begins to share with his family the extraordinary experience he had when he went to Heaven, met Jesus, met God, met his great-grandfather who passed away before he was born, met his sister who had been miscarried before Colton was born and even sees Satan. Colton relays these occurrences to his shocked family in a very innocent and guileless matter-of-fact manner only a child could convey.

My favorite passage in the book is when Colton is telling his parents that Jesus asked the angels to sing to him because he was scared and his father asks him what the angels sang to him.

Colton turned his eyes up and to the right, the attitude of remembering. "Well, they sang 'Jesus Loves Me' and 'Joshua Fought The Battle Of Jericho,'" he said earnestly. "I asked them to sing 'We Will, We Will Rock You,' but they wouldn't sing that."

Colton is a brave little boy who touched my heart and will touch yours. His faith and belief is awe inspiring in it's sweet innocence that reminds us to shed our adult cynical thinking and embrace our beliefs with a child-like joy and abandon.

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An amazing and inspiring story! A fairly quick read told in an honest and forthright account by his stunned father as he learned of his son's experience in bits and pieces over time. Though a pastor, in his pain, he questioned God. The innocence and conviction of his little son's faith taught him to see what he may be missing. It is inspiring, but also, a bit chilling. Leaves you pondering your own doubts and beliefs. "Out of the mouths of Babes!".

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This review is going to be a tough one, I wish I could say that I REALLy liked or LOVED this book but I didn't. I did LIKE it but and that's a BIG BUT....

I think most of us want to believe in heaven or already do. As a child raised with Sunday services and involvement in many church activities I did believe, but as I've gotten older and seen how religious views disrupt our world and peoples lives, I find myself becoming more and more skeptical. When my mother was dying and I was sitting next to her, a few things happened that made me lean toward believing once again.

I'm spiritual, not religious, and this is a religious book. I knew that by just reading the title and seeing it was written by a pastor, the boys father. I typically steer clear of this type of book but after hearing all the hype about it I decided to go ahead and read it.

Todd Burpo, the author and the little boys father, writes of many reasons for us to believe that his child really did die and visited heaven, yet there is no record at the hospital of his child dying or even coming close to dying while being operated on. The little boys innocence and knowledge of things that happened before he was even born was convincing me, to a certain point, yet, I'm thinking that his fathers own religious beliefs fueled this little boy into more and more revelations that I honestly am having trouble swallowing.
I'm just so unsure that this is a factual account. This book raised more questions about heaven and my belief in it than it resolved.
I thought it was well written, he wrote in an easy and open style but I'm skeptical still. This book did not change my mind on that. I guess I'll find out if "Heaven is for Real" when I die. I guess that's the best I can hope for.

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If for any reason you don't believe in heaven than this book is for you. If this book is authentic and true and written for this child than it will make a believer out of you. I have forever wondered if there really was a heaven. This book has given me second thoughts and had me really thinking twice about heaven.

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This book was amazing, convincing, and encouraging. I loved how the little boy's story of visiting heaven unfolded slowly over time. Short chapters made this book a quick read. Once I got started I couldn't stop. I highly recommend reading the book before seeing the movie.

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The book was interesting and I do believe that the child might have had some type of out of body experience while undergoing surgery. I do feel that what he remembered and what he told his parents might be slanted. His father and mother are ministers and the child was around church and religion his entire life so I wonder how much of what he thinks he remembers is true. It was a quick read but I think it was a bit one sided.

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