All Dogs - and Lambs and Doves and Llamas - Go to Heaven

Losing a pet is a very difficult thing, especially for small children who may be experiencing death for the first time. Amy Nolfo-Wheeler seeks to ease this grieving process with All God's Creatures Go to Heaven, a picture book magnificently illustrated by N. A. Noel.

The story is preceded by the lyrics to Fly, a song, written by Jean-Jacques Goldman and Phil Gladston and recorded by Celine Dion, about a bereaved person releasing the spirit of a loved one until they meet again. The story is about a six-year-old angel named Jacob who learns shortly after his arrival in Heaven that the special purpose of children angels is to care for pets who have passed on.

As is typical for many books and movies about Heaven, including the moving The Littlest Angel, we are presented with the scripturally unsound idea that upon their deaths, people become angels with fluffy wings. There are probably many scripturally unsound aspects to this short book, but the central idea is that Heaven is not reserved for just people. Is that so? I certainly hope so.

The story isn't particularly well written, especially when Jacob begins exchanging dialogue with the youthful sage Angelica. Her manner of speaking is very unnatural and heavy-handed. What's more, the author seems to have an issue with commas; there are many places throughout the book where the glaring omission of a comma interrupts the rhythm of the sentence.

Whatever my issues with the writing, however, the paintings are absolutely gorgeous, awe-inspiring enough that the story becomes somewhat inconsequential. His angels, which appear to be unclothed but never are shown from the waist down, are amazingly realistic and infused with soft tones. A wispy-haired little girl clutches flowers in her hand; a wide-eyed boy gazes out from under a mop of spongy curls. And the animals we see - llamas, doves, rabbits and dogs - all with fuzzy white fur or feathers are so adorable you want to scoop them right out of the book and cradle them in your arms.

I presume Noel also is responsible for the large calligraphic letters that appear on some of the pages, usually at the beginning of someone's name. Accented by much simpler, stylized angels, they are ornate and add another nice touch to the book. It is Noel who really makes this remarkable; for a peek at what this artist can do, check out www.nanoel.com.

On the back of the book, Noel writes, "We cannot judge the animals by human measure... We have witnessed their kindness and courage, their joy and their sorrow, their loyalty and love. Do their lives deserve to be honored among the stars? I believe they do..." Me too.