Book Review: Meriah Goes to Church

Meriah Goes to Church. Sonja Michelle Crocket. Self-published, 2012, Paperback, 40 pages.

Reviewed by Sarah Sadik.

Meriah Goes to Church revolves around a young girl who goes to church with her family. Being a child, she misbehaves and is unfamiliar with the happenings at church: the songs, the choir behavior, and the offering plate. While in church, Meriah comes across a young girl, Tenshi, who is paralyzed. She witnesses everyone praying for her to walk again so Meriah joins in and prays every night. The reader finds out quickly that God finally gave Tenshi the power to walk.  

I found this book a little troubling on many levels while reading it. Usually children’s books are informational or try to teach children about how to behave.

However, this book didn’t really explain anything. It didn’t provide any information and it left me feeling empty. The reason for going to church was never explained in detail to the child; it was more of a fluff reason. The fact that Meriah was misbehaving in church so much gave me the impression that she didn’t even take religion seriously or understand the concept of Jesus. Meriah praying for the young girl was a nice gesture but it was very cliché and unbelievable. It made me roll my eyes. How can a young girl—who doesn’t even understand religion—think that she aided in this young girl’s recovery? It seemed as if the author was trying to push religion on the reader instead of trying to be informational. I found this to be the major fault. The main character even seemed confused at times. “Why do we go to church?” I understand the author’s attachment to the subject matter but it just felt like this story was thrown together.