"The Shoe Box" by Francine Rivers is a delightful, sensitive and heartwarming illustrated children's book with a wonderful Christian emphasis. The book measures 8 1/2 inches by 10 3/4 inches and has 27 pages of beautiful illustrations and just the right amount of text. The artist, Linda Dockey Graves does a superb job of conveying the emotions on the faces of the characters in the book. There is a special presentation page at the beginning of the book. This presentation page is great to fill in for a loved one when given as a gift. It seems somewhat distracting if you wanted to present this book to a library. The last page of the book presents a personal testimony from the author describing what gave her the idea for the book.Timmy O'Neal comes to live with Mary and David as a foster child after his father is in prison and his mother has to work all day leaving Timmy alone in the house. Timmy arrives at his new foster home and is warmly received by his new foster parents - Mary and David. Upon arrival Timmy has very little possessions but his one most important possession is an old shoebox with a red lid and the words "Running Shoes" printed on the side. Timmy takes his shoebox with him where ever he goes- to school, Sunday School, bedroom, school bus -- everywhere. Everyone is curious about the contents of the shoebox, When asked what was in the box, Timmy just said "things". All during his stay, Timmy never smiled or seemed very happy. That is, until one Christmas Eve, when something wonderful happened. You will want to read this marvelous book to experience a wonderful miracle in Timmy's life.If you object to the Christian faith, you may not appreciate the last few pages of the book. You could however, appreciate the rest of the book and who knows, you may see and experience something you never dreamed possible by reading the last several pages. While this is a children's book, most adults will also be touched by this story. There is also an adult version of this book.