Mouse Tales, Things Hoped For

Title:  Mouse Tales, Things Hoped For

Author: Ruth L. Boling

Illustrator:  Tracey Dahle Carrier

Publisher:  Westminster John Knox

ISBN:  13-978-0-664-22705-0

Audience:  4-6 years

Summary:  This book is broken into 14 chapters to be used as curriculum during Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, and into a few weeks of Ordinary Time.  Each chapter is very topical and revolves around the lives and characters of The Church of The Least of These, with all the characters being church mice.  Each chapter is brilliantly written to portray the personalities of the church members and the interactions between them.  There are examples of jealousy, power-struggles, aged, newborns, sick and healthy.  The underlying characteristic of all the characters is one of love and interest in working together for the common good.  The book is clever in style and reformed in theology.  This book is an excellent resource.

Literary elements at work in the story:  This story is in a narrative form and tells a story of The Church of the Least of These.  The book begins as a pictorial directory of the church, showing a group photo of all the members, followed by individual pictures and a short biography of the twelve main characters.  The story begins on the first Sunday of Advent and is a serial, continuing in character and plot from chapter to chapter, or from week to week.

How does the perspective on gender/race/culture/economics/ability make a difference to the story?  The book is all inclusive, showing different shades of color, gender, economic status and church mice from different societal points of view.  The book is written in a manner that one never thinks of the differences in gender, race, culture or economics as the stories unfold.   The underlying theme of the entire book is God’s promises for “the least of these” from Jeremiah, Luke and Matthew.

Theological Conversation Partners:    As we participate in this book, we are shown how the beautifully illustrated mice live in community, both within and outside the church.  The love and concern displayed for all the characters comes through the story over and over – while displaying the diversity and variety of personalities.  Our communities and our communities of faith are displayed beautifully in these stories that take us through the beginning of the Church calendar for 14 weeks.

Faith Talk Questions:

1. What is the importance of the Clothing Exchange mentioned in the first chapter of the book?
2. Why is it important to Max that Papa Jordan light the Advent candle successfully?
3. What emotions are displayed when Rose Noel falls on the ice and fractures her ankle?
4. What emotions are displayed when Ernest admitted throwing the rocks and causing Rose Noel to fall on the ice?
5. Amber is new to the church family – describe her personality traits and characteristics throughout the book.
6. Discuss the importance of Amber refusing to participate in the play reading the Beatitudes.

This review was written by Union Prebyterian Seminary student Becky Albright.

Smack Dab in the Middle of God’s Love

Title of Book:  Smack Dab in the Middle of God’s Love

Author:  Brennan Manning and John Blasé

Illustrator:  Nicole Tadgell

Publisher and Publication date:  Tommy Nelson (a registered trademark of Thomas Nelson, Inc.), 2011

ISBN number:  978-1-4003-1713-4

Audience:  Ages 4 – 8

Summary:  Childless couple, Willie Juan and Ana, share much of their lives with the neighborhood children.  One evening Willie Juan asks a question ‘What do you think Abba will ask you in heaven?’  The conversations that follow, while eating Ana’s homemade sopapillas, help the children to understand that they are smack-dab in the middle of God’s love and that all the good gifts in their life are from God.

Literary elements at work in the story:  This story starts off acknowledging that ‘smack-dab’ is fun term to use and say.  It gives its definition as ‘precisely in the center’ and then throughout the story has a repetitive use of the term ‘smack-dab’.   The book drives the term home by reminding us that ultimately we are smack-dab in the middle of God’s love for us.  Reading the book aloud and encouraging the audience to say ‘Smack-dab” with the reader each time it appears, would be a fun way to involve the audience in participating.

Presentation of gender/race/culture/economic status/age/disabilities/etc:  All ages and genders are represented in the illustrations in the story.  The setting is in a small, modest Mexican village but many races are also represented by a variety of skin tones and hair colors and textures.  The story has a strong sense of community and sharing with ones neighbor.  The story introduces Hispanic culture in a way that explains the terms to those who may be new to them.

Theological conversation partners:  John 3:16-17, Romans 8:39, James 1:17, Heidelberg Catechism Question 1.  The story also has a conversational style that allows the reader to imagine their own questions and responses to Willie Juan.

Faith Talk Questions:

1. What do you think Abba will ask you when you get to heaven?  (Willie Juan’s question)
2. What will you ask God when you get to heaven?
3. If you’re smack-dab in the middle of God’s love, what is smack-dab in the middle of your love?
4. What are some things should be smack-dab in the middle of your love?
5. What might it look like to love God?
6. What are some good gifts that you have been given from God?
7. What are some ways that you can share your gifts from God?
8. Who are the Willie Juan’s and Ana’s in your life?

This review was written by Union Presbyterian Seminary student Lisa McClennan

Son

Title:   Son

Author:  Lois Lowry

Illustrator:

Publisher:  Houghton Mifflin Books for Children

Publication Date:  October 2012

ISBN:  978-0547887203

Audience:  Ages 10 and up

Summary: Son begins in the same controlled community and at the same time as The Giver. Twelve-year old Claire has been assigned to the role of birthmother. This means that at about age fourteen she will be artificially inseminated and officially designated a Vessel.  Her baby will be called a Product and she will never see it, know its sex or its name.  Claire has discussed this with the other birthmothers in her dormitory so she has some idea of what to expect.  But the delivery does not go as planned; a C-section is required; Claire cannot have another child.  She is soon sent to work in the fish hatchery but not before she learns that she had a male child and his number is 36.  Working at the fish hatchery gives her the opportunity to visit her son, to play with him, to love him without ever being identified as his mother.  She learns that he is scheduled for release and then, that he has been kidnapped by Jonas and taken from the community. Claire makes her escape simultaneously by a river barge.  With a gap of time and memory, Claire is washed up on the shore of a village, bounded by the treacherous sea and an insurmountable cliff..  Here she remains for seven years, regaining her strength and her memory, and determining still to find her son. Lame Einar, one person who reached the top of the cliff, helps her prepare for the grueling climb out and warns her that at the top awaits Trademaster, who cut off Einar’s feet because he refused to make a trade.  An arduous, dangerous climb brings Claire to the top of the cliff where Trademaster awaits her.  To find her son, she must trade him her youth, and she does so with no hesitation. Then as an old woman she watches her son, Gabriel, grow. No one knows who she is until she is near death and tells her story to Jonas, the community leader who brought Gabriel there over 14 years ago.  Jonas knows the nature of Trademaster and sends Gabriel to confront him for Claire is near death.  Gabriel goes without weapons, with  only his gift, the ability to enter another person’s mind and emotion and understand how the other feels.

Literary elements at work in the story: While the novel begins in a dystopian community, it enters a wider world and becomes a struggle between good and evil, a timeless battle that transcends the genre.  Claire’s physical preparation for the trip and the climb up the cliff match the ordeals of any dystopian heroine.

How does the perspective on gender/race/culture/economics/ability make a difference to the story?  In the original community, giving birth is a low status role.  There is a consciousness of which jobs are prestigious. The village where Claire is washed ashore makes some distinction in gender roles.  It is a poor village, somewhat primitive, with no social classes..  Though the quartet is futuristic, beyond the first section of the novel, this could well be Europe in the dark ages. . In the village where Claire finds her son, outsiders are welcomed, handicaps are accepted.

Theological Conversation Partners: At least four themes run through this novel: the first is the power of  love and empathy; the second is the power and nature of evil; the third is individual gifts and their use in the community; and the fourth, the power of story and memory. There is a tendency to idealize Mother Love; Jesus has words to say about familial love that conflicts with the demands of his Kingdom. This story, however, is about parental love that will not let go. Evil is considered a force rather than a person.  Gabe’s realization that Evil will starve without the misery of its victims is reminiscent of Screwtape waiting to devour Wormwood. The weapons used to fight evil are a firm resolve not to kill, the ability to identify with and experience Evil.   Gifts are given for the benefit of the community and they disappear when no longer needed.

Faith Talk Questions:

1. Would this story work as well if a father were searching for his son?  Why or why not?
2. How does Claire’s community guarantee that mother’s will not bond with their infants?  Why is this desirable?
3. Claire is consumed by the desire to find her son; no sacrifice is too great.  Can the love of a parent for a child be selfish or unhealthy?
4. How many aspects of unselfish love are exhibited in the story?
5. Gabe has the gift of “veering.”  How does this enable him to know that he had a mother?
6. Why did Claire wait so long to tell her story to Jonas? What happens when she does?
7. What is Gabe’s first weapon in going to meet Trademaster?
8. How does Gabe’s gift of veering enable him to defeat Trademaster? What is the cost of this identification with Evil?
9. Trademaster is considered to be a force rather than a person.  Does this square with the biblical view of evil?
10.  In the Apostle’s Creed we say, “He descended into Hell.”  Think about Gabe’s experience of identifying with Trademaster.  What light does it shed on this phrase?

This review was written by regular contributor Virginia Thomas.

Messenger

Title:   Messenger

Author:  Lois Lowry

Illustrator:  None

Publisher:  Houghton Mifflin Books for Children

Publication Date:  Reissue September 2012

ISBN:  978-0547995670

Audience: 12 and up

Summary: Matty, a lively boy entering adolescence, lives with Seer, his blind guardian, in Village, once a welcoming and healing place for all. But this is beginning to change.  People are growing selfish; they want to close the village to any newcomers who, they say, have too many needs.  Seer and Leader suspect the baleful influence of the Trade Mart and Trademaster.  People are trading their inmost selves to get such things as a Gaming Machine or a better appearance.  When Village votes to close its gates, Seer knows that he must send for his daughter, Kira, who lives in another village and who is lame.  She had stayed there to use her gift with needle and thread to embroider a new life for the violent, cruel village in which she lived.  Matty, who hopes his real name will be Messenger, is sent to tell all nearby villages that Village gates are closing.  He goes first to Kira to bring her to her father.  Matty has discovered that he has the gift of healing and he offers to heal Kira before they start for Village, even though he knows how much vitality and strength this will take from him.  Kira refuses and they start back through Forest, only to find it has become hostile to them.  Branches stick them; vines entangle them; the stench makes breathing almost impossible.  Matty is called to use his gift in a costly, remarkable act of healing that restores Forest and Village and restores Kira to her father.

Literary elements at work in the story: The genre is dystopian fiction. The tension and danger of most such novels takes a slightly different form here. The gifts used in the story’s conclusion veer into fantasy or magic rather than dystopian fiction.  Evil is represented by a consumerism that encourages selfishness and that affects the natural world.  The trip through the forest that Matty and Kira make is vivid, frightening, horrifying.

How does the perspective on gender/race/culture/economics/ability make a difference to the story? The reasons people of the Village give for closing their gates express racial and cultural prejudice and prejudice against those handicapped. Neither gender nor economics affect the story.

Theological Conversation Partners: Messenger opens up a number of topics for theological exploration: evil, suffering, ecology, responsibility, stewardship of gifts, identity, community. In the two previous  communities, an evil pattern of life was already established. Here Lowry telescopes the results of materialism, consumerism, selfishness into a rapid change in the entire character of Village. Is this an adequate concept of evil? Explore Genesis 2 and compare. Lowry and the Bible personalize evil.  Compare Trademaster with Satan or the devil.  Kira claims her lameness as part of her identity-“Who I am.” Does our faith encourage us to accept handicaps as identity, as something to keep?  When does my healing take from the community-a question that lurks in discussions of medical care today.   Biblical characters are given new names-Abraham, Jacob, Peter. Compare this with the names given in Village. Matty is reminded to use his gift carefully, not to squander it.  This is in contrast to the story Jesus told about the Master who demanded that his servants invest their gold coins. (Luke 19: 11-27, Matt. 25:14-30)  Both ideas could be included in the stewardship of gifts.

Faith Talk Questions:

1. Villagers give reasons for wanting to close their gates to newcomers.  What are these and are they used when we discuss immigration today.
2. When Matty arrived at Village he lied, stole, and avoided responsibility.  What made him change?
3. Why did Kira refuse healing.  What did she mean by, “This is who I am?” Was she right?
4. Leader tells Matty about using his gift: “Wait for the true need, Matty,. Don’t spend the gift.”  How does he recognize the need?
5. Names were given to indicate the true nature of the person.  What would your name be?
6. Can you think of times when you can trade your true self for something you want-popularity? Good looks? Success in sports or grades? Other?
7. Selfishness affects the natural world, making Forest hostile.  What is the connection between selfishness and global warming, for example?
8. Do you think the author gives an accurate picture of the Village before Trademaster comes?
9. How can a community protect itself from influences the cause us to be selfish, cruel, dishonest?
10.  In Christian theology is selfishness the root of all other sins? What other sins mar us and our world?

This review was written by regular contributor Virginia Thomas

Gathering Blue

Title:   Gathering Blue

Author:  Lois Lowry

Illustrator:  None

Publisher:  Houghton Mifflin Books for Children

Publication Date:  Reissue September 2012

ISBN:  978-0547995687

Audience: 10 and up

Summary: Kira, lame since birth, has just left her mother’s body in the Field of Leaving and she faces a dangerous and uncertain future.  Her father was destroyed by beasts in a hunt and she lives in a village that discards weak and useless persons like herself, that fights and quarrels for food and goods.  Her neighbors are ready to stone her for her plot of ground but she is miraculously saved by the Council of Guardians.  Her skill with weaving and embroidery equip her to repair and care for the Singer’s Robe, a robe that tells the history of the people from the beginning, through ruin, rebuilding growth, and ruin…Kira (her two-syllable name indicates that she is at least 12) is brought to live in the Council Edifice, a survival of the last Ruin, an elaborate building with indoor plumbing.  She is supplied with abundant food, comfort, and all the supplies she will need to restore the robe worn by the Singer at the village Gathering each year. At this event the village hears their history sung. Jamison, one of the guardians, checks on Kira’s work each day and tells her that she will finish the story that is incomplete on the Robe.   Kira’s life is brightened by a single-syllable boy, Matt, from the Fen and his dog, Branch.  He often accompanies her to see Annabella who is teaching Kira to dye threads.  She has no way to make blue and suggests that beyond their village blue can be found.  Matt sets off to find this blue while Kira, prepares for the Gathering and Song.  This event reveals to Kira some of the dangerous secrets of the Guardians and the community.  Matt returns with the plant for blue and with Kira’s father, Christopher, who had been attacked and left for dead in the hunt.  He lives now in the village of healing or broken people and wants to take her back with him. Kira makes a difficult choice between leaving with her father or staying to complete the story on the Singer’s Robe.

Literary elements at work in the story: Kira’s story is a futuristic, dystopian novel but it could easily be read as a story of a European village in the dark ages.  Only the Council Edifice is a reminder of a more advanced civilization in the past. In contrast to the community of sameness in The Giver, the disorder and discord of this village are palpable. The concrete information about plants and dies gives credibility to the story.

How does the perspective on gender/race/culture/economics/ability make a difference to the story? Different roles for men and women are clearly defined.  Girls are not allowed to learn to read. Disparity between those raised in the Fen (swampy slum) and people of the village creates a class distinction.  Special abilities are recognized and used by the village.

Theological Conversation Partners: Again memory plays a crucial role in this story as in the life of the Christian community. There are echoes of Genesis as the Song begins.   A contrast between how memory is kept alive in the village and in the church is a fruitful study.  The value on life in the community and in the Christian life is another area to compare and explore, with special emphasis on the place of children.  (Mark 10:13-15)  The village where Christopher lives highlights different approaches to the treatment of immigrants and those with special needs.   Kira’s lameness and her attitude toward it furnish an area for discussion.  ( 2^nd Cor 12:8-10  )  Finally, how Kira chooses to use her gift, opens up the question of stewardship and choices.

Faith Talk Questions:

1. What is your impression of the village in which Kira lives? Is there any evidence of fairness or justice?
2. What place did the Ruin Song have in the village life?  Why was it important? What part does memory play in our community or national identity?  Our personal identity?
3. In what ways do Christians remember?  Why?
4. How are children valued in the community?
5. Why is Kira’s life spared? Is she being treated kindly or being used?
6. What is Kira’s attitude about her pain and crippled leg?
7. Kira realizes that the Singer is chained, a prisoner, and that Thomas, Jo, and she herself are also prisoners.  “The Guardians with their strength and cunning were forcing the children to describe the future that they wanted, not the one that could be.” What is Lowry saying about control of artistic expression and the future of children?
8. Kira’s father describes the village of healing.  What aspects of life there are good?
9. Kira chooses to stay behind when her father leaves and use her gift to complete the robe? Why does she make this choice?  What impact will it have on the village?
10. Two sticks placed together on the Council Chamber wall are objects of worship though their meaning is no longer remembered.  Do these represent the cross?  Do we sometimes have crosses as jewelry or ornamentation when the meaning is forgotten?

The Grimm Legacy

Name of Book: The Grimm Legacy

Author: Polly Shulman

Illustrator: None

Publisher: Puffin Books, 2011 (Reprint edition)

ISBN: 9780142419045

Audience: ages 10+

Summary:  Elizabeth Rew’s life has all the elements of a good fairy tale.  Her mother has died; her father has remarried so that she now has a stepmother and two college-age stepsisters.  While the stepmother and stepsisters are not evil, they do take advantage of Elizabeth.  She has had to transfer to a new high school where she has no friends.  A research paper she does on Grimm’s fairy tales for her history teacher leads to an after-school job as a page at a very unusual library.  The New York Circulating Material Repository is a lending library of objects rather than books—objects both contemporary and historical (such as Marie Antoinette’s wig), common and obscure.  She learns that the basement houses several secret collections including the Grimm Collection, a room full of magical items mentioned in Grimm’s fairy tales.  She is intrigued by the seven-league boots, a mermaid’s comb, the magic mirror belonging to Snow White’s stepmother, and other items.  But some of the items are disappearing and others are losing their magical qualities.  Elizabeth and her fellow pages are suspects.  Even though the pages don’t completely trust each other, they set off on a dangerous and exciting quest to find the real culprit.

Literary Elements at work in the story: Even though The Grimm Legacy is fantasy, it remains grounded in reality.  Problems are not solved through the use of magic.  In fact, some of the magical items cause more problems than they solve.  Missteps while wearing the seven-league boots can cause the wearer to crash into walls or ended up far from their intended destination.  The magic mirror must tell the truth but can be snide and catty in its responses (saying that Elizabeth is brave and true, but not pretty, for example).  The four teen-age protagonists have problems with which the reader can identify:  being an outsider at a new school, being jealous or envious of others, having a pesky younger sibling, family problems, etc.

Perspective on gender/race/culture/economic/ability:  The four teen-age main characters are of different ethnicities.  But their ethnicity is merely a factor that describes appearance, much in the same way that someone would be described as having brown eyes or curly hair.  The ethnicity does not describe abilities or character traits.  The girls and the boys are equally brave and compassionate.  The girls have initiative and are willing to risk safety to rescue others who are in danger.  Marc, the high school basketball star, takes care of his three-year-old brother with caring and without embarrassment or resentment.

Scripture:  Philippians 1:27-28; Philippians 2:1-4; Exodus 20:12; Matthew 19:19; Hebrews 6:19

Theology:  Living in community; resisting evil; moral bravery; hope; honor parents; kindness (love)

Faith Talk Questions:

1.  Elizabeth’s father does not seem to pay much attention to her.  Why?  What would you say to him?  What could you say in his defense?
2.  How do Elizabeth, Marc, Aaron, and Anjali honor and respect their parents?
3.  If you could borrow an item from the Grimm Collection, what would you want?  Why?  What would you leave as a deposit?  How would this affect your daily life?
4.  What is your favorite fairy tale? (NOTE:  You may wish to reread some Grimm’s fairy tales or other fairy tale collections.  Avoid the Disney and other animated versions; they take extreme liberties with the stories and often do not stay true to the original version.)
5.  Because the main characters do not know whom to trust, they find it difficult to work together to find the thief.  Why do we sometimes find it difficult to work together?  What are some advantages of working together?
6.  Elizabeth has strong memories of her mother and their shared love of fairy tales.  What memories do you have of an activity shared with a parent or grandparent?
7.  Where is God at work in this book?

This review is written by Union Presbyterian Seminary graduate Mary Anne Welch.

The Great Brain

Name of Book:  The Great Brain

Author:  John D. Fitzgerald

Illustrator: Mercer Mayer

Publisher: Puffin

ISBN: 978-0142400586

Audience:  The audience is for ages 8 and up, about grade 3. However, I might also use the book as a cultural introduction. Perspective taking is crucial.in using this book.

Summary:  This is the story of a ‘Gentile’ family in Utah in the 19^th century. It centers around the children of a family who are all boys. The activities of children, the process of growing up and growing older, and the dynamics of being different are the bread and butter of the story.

Literary elements at work in the story (Genre/setting/characterization/plot/theme/point of view/style):

This is a historical, realistic fiction tale. It is set in Utahin the 19^th century, and revolves around the middle son (Tom Dennis, or T.D.) of the family, while being told by the third son (John Dennis or J.D.). While looking up to T.D., J.D. is very aware that his older brother isn’t the most ethical of people. While bright, T.D. is centered on himself, and J.D. is often left to clean up the messes made by his older brother – usually trying to mend fences and maintain relationships. J.D. tells the story as it happens, and then reflects on it a bit, providing color commentary for the actors in the story. It is an honest story of childhood, of community, of being the outsider, and of being the peacemaker.

(How) does the perspective on gender/race/culture/economics/ability make a difference to the story?  Many would assume that a white European Protestant perspective wouldn’t make a difference and is the norm, but they’ve never lived in Utah. This is very much a minority perspective, even in the present day, let alone in the 19^th century. While there isn’t much focus on the Latter Day Saints church, the perspective being written from is a minority perspective. As such, this is a story of outsiders, a story of people on the periphery, and a story of the other.

Theological conversation partners:  Any passage where the people of Israel are not in the promised land is a connection. The people as the resident aliens in the land is a base understanding for being non-LDS inUtah. Hence,Egypt, and exile are primary bases of comparison.

In addition, we might look at the stories that speak of family, especially brothers. Cain and Abel and the stories of Joseph and his brothers would also be appropriate.  Particular stories in the various chapters may apply as well.  For instance, when the kids are lost in the cave there could be a parallel to the men in the fiery furnace, or Andy who has lost his leg might relate to the healing stories of Jesus.

Faith Talk Questions

1.  Which character do you most identify with and why?
2.  What do you think of the discipline tool the boys’ parents use –  the silent treatment?
3. Have you ever been given the silent treatment? How did it feel?
4. What does it mean for you to be lost?
5. How would you define a friend?
6. Would you be more likely to be friends with J.D. or T.D. and why?

This review was prepared by Union Presbyterian Seminary student Wade Halva.

The Tallest of Smalls

Name of Book:  The Tallest of Smalls

Author:  Max Lucado

Illustrator:  Maria Monescillo

Publisher:  Tommy Nelson: A Division of Thomas Nelson Publishers

Audience:  Ages 4 – 10 (but could be used with middle schoolers)

Summary:  The Tallest of Smalls is the story of a young boy named Ollie.  Ollie lives in the land of Stilts.  In the land of Stilts, each evening at six, the Stiltsvillians gather at the town circle to find out who will be chosen—the clever and funny, the awesome and pretty, the special and cool, the better and best—to put on some stilts and strut high above those down in the rut.  At last Ollie is chosen, but his time in the sky is short lived and ends quite embarrassingly.  All is a disaster; that is until Jesus chooses Ollie to walk another way, with his feet on the ground!

Literary Elements at Work:  Max Lucado cleverly uses two dominant literary elements in this story: words that rhyme and clear contrasts: small versus tall, up high opposite down low, cool differing from shy, common and dull dissimilar to the gang of the cool.  The use of rhyming words moves the story along in a seemingly fun and engaging way, that is until the reader/hearer slowly becomes aware that this is an all too familiar tale of exclusion.  Who hasn’t been left out of a group?  The last chosen for teams?  The only girl in the group?  The only Christian?  The only African American?  Who hasn’t left someone out of a group?  The use of strong and clear contrasts, in some instances opposites, makes the distinctions quite vivid.  Some are cool; some are not.  Some are smart; some are not.  Some are in; some are not.  Maria Monescillo’s illustrations are bright, colorful, off center and quite quirky!  Using perspective, Ms. Monescillo draws the eye way up high when Ollie and the other Stiltsvillians are way down.  Each evening at six, the viewpoint is bearing down from on high.  In addition to the plight of the Stiltsvillians down low, the animals in town are treated with notable concern.  There are dogs or cats, birds or chicks, pigs or roosters on nearly every page.  These creatures are usually pictured alongside the down lows.  Max Lucado and Maria Monescillo make a delightful team in telling this story.

Scripture:  Adapted from Genesis 1

In the beginning the earth was formless and void and God said, “Let there be light and sky, moon, stars, and sun, fruit trees and vegetation, great sea monsters and winged birds, cattle and creeping things and wild beasts.”  And there was; and it was good.  Then God said, “Let us create humankind in our image.”  So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.  And it was so.  God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good.  And God rested…

Jonah 4: 11 “And should I not be concerned about Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also many animals?”  Isaiah 43 selected verses “Thus says the LORD, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine…Because you are precious in my sight, and honored, and I love you.”  Galatians 3:28 “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Adapted from Matthew 10  Jesus summons his twelve; gives them authority to cast out unclean spirits, cure every disease and sickness; and sends them out with these instructions: go to the lost sheep, proclaim the good news, cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons.  (NRSV)

Theology:    God creates the heavens and the earth and all that is in them and calls them good and blesses them and commands them to be fruitful and multiply.  God creates humankind in the image of God and calls us, together with all creation, very good and blesses us and commands us to be fruitful and multiply.  Additionally, humanity is charged to, what professor Ellen Davis at Duke Divinity School calls, “exercise skilled mastery” over all creation.  And yet we build barriers: black versus white, male versus female, rich versus poor, oppressor versus oppressed, gay versus straight, liberal versus conservative, thin versus fat, young versus old.  The list goes on and on.  And still Jesus calls.  Jesus calls us to break down barriers that divide and to build up shalom, peace.  Peace: financial security, emotional well-being, spiritual well-being, physical well-being, humankind living in well-being with all creation.  What God has called good, we cannot dismiss, ignore, exploit, destroy.

Faith Talk Questions:

Sit down beside your child, let him hold the book and turn the pages.  Ask him to point to those up high and those down low, those who are shy and those who are cool.  Ask: what about the illustration tells us that she or he is cool?  What about the illustration tells us that he or she is shy?  What do you notice about the animals in this town?  Are they up high?  Are they down low?  In the story, Jesus tells Ollie to “refuse to be stilted; choose low over high; leave the system tip-tilted.”  What does that mean?  What do we do when the Bible tells us one thing (that we are created, formed, called, loved, honored by God and precious to God), and the world tells us something else (that we are not honored, valued, precious, loved, called)?  Does that mean God does not love you?  Form you?  Call you?  Honor you?  That you are not precious to God?  Wait for responses.  LISTEN to what your child thinks.  What do we do when the Bible tells us that God calls light and sky, moon, stars, and sun, fruit trees and vegetation, great sea monsters and winged birds, cattle and creeping things and wild beasts trees good and blesses them, and the world tells us that we can do whatever we want to to the earth and all the plants, trees, and creatures that live upon it?  Does that mean that God is not concerned about the animals?  Say, “God creates, forms, loves and calls all people all the time because you and I and they are precious in God’s sight!”  Say a prayer thanking God for all those that God forms and loves and calls.  Say a prayer of intercession for those who hear so often from the world, “NO; you cannot!”  What did Jesus say?  What can we do?  Who and what does God love, form, call, honor?  Who and what is precious in God’s sight?  Who and what is God concerned about today?  How can we help?

Review prepared by Union Presbyterian Seminary alumna Kim Lee

Anansi and the Moss-Covered Rock

Name of Book:  Anansi and the Moss-Covered Rock

Author: retold by Eric A. Kimmel

Illustrator: Janet Stevens

Publisher: Holliday House, New York

Audience:  Ages 5-8

Summary:  Anansi is a master trickster.   Although Eric Kimmel does not identify the source of this story, such tales are found in West Africa and in the Caribbean.  In this tale, Anansi the Spider is walking through the forest when he finds a strange, moss-covered rock.  After commenting on the rock, Anansi falls down senseless.  After an hour he wakes up.  While trying to discover what had happened, he repeats the phrase “Isn’t this a strange moss-covered rock?” and again falls down senseless.  Upon awaking, he realizes what happened and how to use this knowledge to trick others.  He uses his knowledge to trick all the animals so that he could steal their food.  While all this is happening, Little Bush Deer is watching from the sidelines.  Little Bush Deer has a plan to turn the tables on Anansi and get the animals’  food returned to the rightful owners.

Literary Elements at work in the story: Young children will enjoy the repetitive elements in the story and finding Little Bush Deer peering out from behind the plants in the illustrations.  The illustrations are bright and colorful to keep the interest of the reader.  The animals are drawn realistically but do have human expressions and human possessions such as front porches, ceiling fans, lounge chairs, etc.

Perspective on gender/race/culture/economic/ability:  Anansi is described as lazy (“too lazy to dig [yams]/pick [bananas]/gather [coconuts] himself.”  The implication is that he is capable of doing the work but would rather not do hard labor.

Scripture:  Any of the stories in Genesis involving Jacob tricking Esau; Jacob tricking Isaac; Laban tricking Jacob

Theology:  Living in community, Respect for others

Faith Talk Questions:

1. Why do some people play tricks on others?
2. Why did Anansi steal food from the other animals?
3. How do you think the other animals felt about Anansi?  Why?
4. Is it ever all right to trick people?  How do people feel when they have been tricked?  If possible, tell about a time when someone played a trick on you.  How did you feel?
5. Can you tell about a time when you played a trick on someone?
6. How does God want us to treat others?

Review prepared by Union Presbyterian Seminary graduate Mary Anne Welch

A Long Way from Chicago

Name of Book:   A Long Way from Chicago

Author:   Richard Peck

Illustrator:   None

Publisher:   Puffin Books

Audience:   Ages 9-15

Summary:   Joey and his little sister Mary Alice live in Depression-era Chicago.  But they have no contact with the gangsters who reigned over the Windy City.  Instead, their great adventures happened in August each year when they are sent to stay a week with their grandmother down state.  Grandma Dowdel was “old as the hills” and “tough as an old boot.”  When the children were young, the town was dwarfed by Grandma; “[s]he was so big and the town was so small.”  Grandma liked to keep to herself, a difficult task in a small town.  The book opens in 1929 and ends in 1942 with the troop train carrying Joey to basic training passing through Grandma’s town just before dawn.  During the intervening years, Joey and Mary Alice are in the thick of Grandma’s exploits from providing a funeral for Shotgun Cheatum to obtaining a biplane ride for her grandson to saving an old woman’s house from foreclosure to stealing the drunken sheriff’s boat for a bit of fishing.  The excitement and danger of gangster-ridden Chicago pale beside the antics of Grandma.  This is a wonderful book for grandparents to share with grandchildren, although today’s grandparents would be the children of the children in the book.

Literary Elements at work in the story:   The book is told by Joey, age 9 at the beginning and a young soldier at the end.  In the prologue, he says that he is now older than Grandma was then, but he remembers clearly and says that all his memories are true and are getting truer every year.  The chapters read like short stories; each one recounts events in one week’s visit over nine years of visits.

Perspective on gender/race/culture/economic/ability:   Grandma is not your typical grandmother if you think grandmothers are delicate creatures who spend their time baking cookies and pampering grandchildren.  This Grandma shoots a rifle, can kill a snake by grabbing it by the tail and snapping it once to break its neck, feeds Depression-era hobos, abets an eloping couple escape domineering parents, and tells “whoppers.”

Scripture:  Proverbs 31:10-31; Exodus 20:1-17; Exodus 22:22; Matthew 25:34-45

Theology:  Family, Caring for the downtrodden and oppressed, Community

Faith Talk Questions:

1. Joey and Mary Alice both get older in this book.  Name some other ways in which they change.
2. Is Grandma Dowdel a person you would like to know?  Why or why not?
3. Joey knows that kids tell lies, but doesn’t think adults lie.  Why do you think people tell lies?  What kind of lies do people tell?
4. Grandma not only tells lies; Joey says she tells whoppers.  Choose one of her “whoppers.”  Why did she tell it?  What does she accomplish by telling it?
5. Grandma doesn’t show affection to her grandchildren.  In fact, she makes them work hard.  Does she love her grandchildren?  How do you know?
6. Share stories about your grandparents.  If you are a grandparent, what would you hope your grandchildren will remember about you?
7. Proverbs 31 describes a virtuous (KJV) or capable (NRSV) or noble (NIV) wife.  Does Grandma fit the description?  Why or why not?

Review prepared by Union Presbyterian Seminary alumna Mary Anne Welch