Review: God Went To Beauty School

God Went to Beauty School
by Cynthia Rylant

God Went to Beauty School is a small book (56 pages) of poetry. The poems are about God, and what His life would be like if He lived like a human. Each poem describes a new experience God would have in His human life, which helps Him identify and appreciate His creations. Also, the poems describe some of the stresses and difficulties of being the all-powerful creator of the world.

I don’t know exactly why, but I loved this book. When I picked it up I might have rolled my eyes and thought, “Well…at least it’s short.” As soon as I started, though, I couldn’t stop.

The poems were funny because I was imagining God getting his first dog, or going to the doctor and saying, “Well, you’re pretty good/ at playing me,/ I figured you’d/ know what the/ problem was.” Most of the poems were humorous because they described every day events with an all-powerful twist.

Occasionally I would be hit by a sad part; a poem about God making spaghetti and how He eats alone every night, or going into a church and avoiding looking at any of the crosses. There were not many sad poems. Just enough to make the stories more human.

To give a better idea of how much I liked this book, I’m thinking about buying it. I get most books from the library, and many of the books I own were either gifts, free, or 50 cents at a used bookstore. God Went to Beauty School is definitely a book I want to own and am willing to pay more than 50 cents for.