What's Heaven? Heartfelt answers from Maria Shriver for you & your children...


What's Heaven?, written by Maria Shriver and illustrated by Sandra Speidel, is a story for children, but it's not a Roman Catholic explanation of death and dying. Young Kate is asking questions, and sometimes offering her own explanations, about heaven, souls, and funerals because of the death of her great-grandmother.

The questions, and answers, in What's Heaven? were really asked and answered by the children of the extended Kennedy family and Maria Shriver herself. The death of her grandmother, Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, made Maria Shriver realize she had to find explanations, suitable for her young children, to explain what was now occurring in their lives.

Anyone who has gone through this type of experience with a child knows how difficult it can be. Trying to comfort an inconsolable child whose world has fallen apart because of the death of a loved one is heartbreaking. What's Heaven? was written to help us help our kids.

This book helps explain the concepts surrounding death. Whether a child is facing the loss of a loved one, a friend, a distant relative, a beloved pet, or simply overhears adults talking about it, What's Heaven?, by Maria Shriver, offers answers when you're at a loss for the right words.

Maria Shriver said in an interview and live chat session on ET Online, "I was and am passionate about this book. I wanted to write this book regardless of whether anybody ever read it or not. My hope and goal was that this little book would find its way into hundreds and thousands of homes and help countless families begin this difficult discussion."

If you believe in heaven, as portrayed in Touched by an Angel, you're one of the lucky ones. You have a built-in reference point to use with a child.

Or perhaps you've heard of the doctors who say there are reports of a great feeling of love and light when people have near death experiences. If you've read Elisabeth Kubler-Ross's books detailing her work and research with children and adults who went through near death experiences, you're also one of the lucky ones.

When Dr. Kubler-Ross talks to dying children, she often uses the following symbolism to explain the transition from life to death--going to heaven is like a butterfly that has emerged from its cocoon. It's no longer a caterpillar who must cling to vegetation to eat and live. Now, as a butterfly, it experiences an entirely different existence than it knew as a caterpillar.

Dr. Kubler-Ross and her colleagues have been researching this subject for years as they've worked with their terminally ill patients. In spite of the teachings of scientists, theologians, or philosophers, we don't know exactly what the experience of death will be like, but Dr. Kubler-Ross, and other researchers maintain that people who experience near death episodes claim that they're no longer afraid of death. This should be a comfort to us all, even those folks who don't believe in any kind of heaven.

As Maria Shriver says in What's Heaven?, "Some people believe in different kinds of heaven and have different names for it." Maria isn't trying to force her opinion, or those of the Kennedy children, on anyone. Her book is a non-denominational approach to a very difficult subject, a subject which none of us want to be forced to discuss with our children, but which we'll most likely have to face at some time. What's Heaven?, read and discussed before it's necessary to have that particular discussion, will make that inevitable conversation easier.

An example of the care and tenderness Maria offers in her explanations is her definition of a soul. It's one that we all can use to explain what a soul is to our children, or ourselves for that matter. A soul, "...is made up of all the things we can't see..." In other words, a person's soul is all the things we remember--the personality, the laughter, the caring--who the person was to us. Whether or not you believe in a particular faith, or are an agnostic or atheist, that is an excellent definition.

Go to this web address (http://www.etonline.com/html/ChatSchedule/842.html) to read the entire interview at ET Online with Maria Shriver.

Final notes

From the copyright page: "Summary: After her great-grandmother's death, a young girl learns about heaven by asking her mother all kinds of questions."

Maria Shriver's What's Heaven?, illustrated by Sandra Speidel, is available as:


• a hardback of 32 pages (Dimensions [in inches]: 0.36 x 7.69 x 7.68 ), published by Golden Books Pub Co (Adult); in March 1999, ISBN: 0307440435, for ages 4-8, list price $15.00 US

By the way, when your children outgrow this book, you can recycle it at your local library if you don't want to keep it to pass on to your grandkids.

Did you know that most libraries accept used books in good condition to:
• add a new book title to their shelves
• replace their worn-out copy of that title, or
• sell to raise money, and
the IRS accepts your book gifts to libraries as charitable donations?
How about that? I know donated books make a big difference at my small library!





Recommended: Yes