Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the author/publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Around Christmas, we received a request to review My Pigeon Heart, a children’s book by Denise Sleete about Jesus & Mary. Intended for children ages 4-12, this story presents a story of Jesus’s love for all of us through the eyes of a city pigeon named Midgie. Midgie is a pigeon who most frequently perches on the city cathedral, listening to the beautiful hymns & readings and being fed by a nun. One day Midgie hears a hymn at the cathedral, “Seek and you shall find Jesus.” She decides to travel out of the big city to find Him. During her travels she talks to many different animals, telling them all about Jesus. After many days, Midgie is starting to wonder where she can find Jesus. Then she finds Mary who gives Midgie several gifts from Him and tells her to go back to the city and spread the word of Jesus.
It’s funny how different everyone’s tastes are. I spent several Sunday’s reading My Pigeon Heart aloud to my kids. There are 15 chapters (plus extra info) and if you read one chapter every Sunday, it would take about 4 months. I got about two or three chapters in and made the comment to my husband about thinking it kind of meh. Hubby and Lil’ Bit (6) about jumped down my throat in protest! And several chapters in, I had to change my tune :).
My oldest daughter loved the story of Midgie and requested several chapters at a time. Once we picked it up, we moved through it rather quickly. My Pigeon Heart is a beautiful gift quality book, though it’s a bit oversized and doesn’t quite fit on our shelf. My daughters particularly liked the puffy heart on the cover–who says you cant judge a book by its cover? A quality hardcover with large print & full color illustrations, it’s probably better for older children. It’s not a picture book per se. There ARE pictures, but its primarily text with the occasional picture rather than the other way around. The print is fairly large, making it a good book for grandparents or great-grandparents to read-aloud.
If you are looking for a book to introduce Jesus to a child whose parents have not done so, My Pigeon Heart would be a beautiful book to use. It would be a wonderful Baptism anniversary gift or Easter book, too. And to make things even sweeter, buying a copy will also help others–100% of the author’s proceeds will be donated to Children’s Charities.
