Up In Heaven by Emma Chichester Clark

This is a great kids story about a little boy and his dog who died. It goes through the story of how beautiful heaven is for the dog but she just can't be happy until she knows that the little boy is not sad anymore about losing her. It has beautiful pictures of dogs frolicking in heaven and how happy they are and it ends with the dog sending dreams to the little boy that help him move on from the loss of his dog. It's touching and would be great for a child that has lost a pet. However, if your child has not lost a pet, you might want to consider that this might bring up more questions than you want to answer. Also, obviously if you do not believe in heaven, this is not the right book for you and your children because they tend to latch onto things very literally and especially religious things (IMHO). The illustration is nice but not wonderful and my kids (whom I always try to get to look at the actual art in the book) were not interested in this one. Overall, I loved the story but there were some downsides to reading this story, particularly before bedtime as then we had to have a 45 minute conversation about animals and people dying and where they go after they die. You might want to read this as a one on one book so you can discuss it more personally with each child.