Author: Virginia Kroll
Illustrator: Debra Reid Jenkins
Publisher: Eerdmans, 1994

The best part of I Wanted to Know All About God is its realistic oil paintings of young, multicultural children exploring the world around them and finding signs of God in their homes, in nature and in the people in their lives.

Each two-page spread begins with a different child saying "I wondered" or "I wanted to know" and sharing a question about God. (Is God strong? Where does God like to visit? Do God's people have faith in each other? ) In each case, author Virginia Kroll's text shows, rather than tells, how a child could think about God. For example, with a painting of a child watching a spider weave, we read: "I wondered if God likes art, and I saw a spiderweb in my uncle's barn." And with a painting of a beaming grandparent embracing a child, we read: "I wondered what God's love feels like, and Grandma put her arms around me and gave me a big hug."

Learn more about the illustrator at Debra Reid Jenkins' website, or read "Fine art painter Debra Reid Jenkins continues a family tradition of art" at MLive.

Read an interview with Virginia Kroll at the Eerdmans website.

Editor's note: Two of the book's spreads use masculine language for God. The book comes in two versions: a 12-page board book for ages up to 4, and a 32-page hardcover for ages 3 to 8.