The Thief Who Stole Heaven: A Legend
Product Code: BK4321Award-winning TV personality Raymond Arroyo’s evocative new book will take its place in the
pantheon of classics for Christian children.
Majestically illustrated by Randy Gallegos, this inspiring story begins when the Holy Family is
set upon by roadside thieves. Jesus is a young boy—and the lead bandit is the Bad Thief. His
accomplice is a young man named Dismas, later the Good Thief.
Remembering his own mother and family, Dismas is moved with compassion and persuades
the leader to let the Holy Family go. He does not change his ways, but while on the cross many
years later, Dismas is caught in the entrancing gaze of the Blessed Mother from under his own
cross. He suddenly realizes that the man suffering horribly next to him was the captivating boy
on that fateful day long ago. He instantly asks Jesus for forgiveness—and knowing exactly who
he is, Jesus forgives Dismas, assuring him of Paradise that very day!
“Wonder, in a child, is the beginning of worship,” said a children’s book publisher nearly a
century ago. Author Arroyo, in one of the most beautiful Gospel-based children’s stories ever
written, makes St. Luke’s fleeting mention of the Good Thief come alive for children under nine
in an electrifying and tender tale of the meaning of forgiveness as Jesus practices it—perfectly.
40 pages. Hardcover. Ages 8-12.
