A Story for Hippo

Title of Book: A Story for Hippo

Author: Simon Puttock

Illustrator: Alison Bartlett

Publisher: Scholastic Press (September 1, 2001)

ISBN:  978-0439262194

Audience: Ages 4 – 9

Summary of Book: This book is a story of two friends, Hippo and Monkey.  Hippo and Monkey share in daily storytelling.  Hippo tells Monkey that she is getting old and that she will die.  When this time is upon them, it leaves Monkey grieving and wondering who would tell him stories and laugh at his jokes.

Central Literary Elements: The text of this book presents itself in a simple format.  A Story for Hippo answers difficult questions in a way that children of all ages can understand and shows us how to keep the spirit of a person alive forever.The illustrations are bold and colorful although they have a chalky feel.  They effectively communicate the emotions of the story.

Perspective on gender/race/culture/economics/abilities: This book does not raise any concerns in respect to any type of status.

Theologica Conversation Partners:  Psalms 30:5, Jeremiah 31:13, 1 Thessalonians 3:7

Faith Talk Questions:

1. How does our faith help fill the void created by a loss?
2. Hippo tried to prepare Monkey for her death.  Hhow do we as humans prepare ourselves for the loss of loved one?
3. Is an unexpected death of a loved one less difficult emotionally? Why or why not?
4. What memories do you cherish of loved ones that have died?

Old Pig

Title:  Old Pig

Author:  Margaret Wild

Illustrator:  Ron Brooks

Publisher:   Allen & Unwin (February 23, 2010)

ISBN:  978-1741757064

Audience:  Ages 4 – 8

Summary:  Old Pig is a book on how to help cope with a loss of a loved one.  In the story there are two pigs, Old Pig the grandmother and Granddaughter.  The Granddaughter knows that Old Pig will soon be gone, but her memory will live on.  This story will help readers see the meaning of living, loving, giving, and receiving in the midst of a loss of a loved one.

Central Literary Elements at work in the story: The plot of the story is about a granddaughter preparing herself for the loss of her grandmother.  This softly illustrated picture book also celebrates life as well.  Each day Old Pig and Granddaughter enjoyed the beauties of life and the world around them.  The story is told by a narrator describing how Old Pig helped the granddaughter cope with dying.  The author uses our senses of looking, listening, smelling, and tasting in the process of sharing each wonder of nature with Granddaughter.  The final illustration of Granddaughter feasting on nature by herself brings chills to the skin and tears to the eyes of young and old alike. Pencil sketches with detail provided by soft pastel water colors successfully extend the unspoken portions of the story.  In the end, as Granddaughter prepared for the death of Old Pig, she now has a different perspective on life.

Perspective on gender/race/culture/economics/abilities:  This story was told from the perspective of a grandmother and granddaughter.  Although the story was told from this perspective I do not see any conflicts of any reader being able to learn from the story.

Theological Conversation Partners:  Ecclesiastes 3:1-4, Hebrews 13:5, Matthew 5:4

Faith Talk Questions:

1. Do we as individual take life for granted?  Why or why not?
2. Why is it when tragedies happen we seem to get closer to Christ?
3. Why should we live each day like it is our last?
4. Does it become difficult to serve God when dealing with a loss? What emotions are exhibited?
5. How do you trust and believe through all things that Christ loves you will be with you through trails?

This review was written by Union Presbyterian Seminary student Tim Tate

Tear Soup

Title of Book:  Tear Soup

Author:  Pat Schwiebert and Chuck DeKlyen

Illustrator:  Taylor Bills

Publisher:   Grief Watch (June 1, 2005)

ISBN:  978-0961519766

Audience: 10 and up

Summary of Book:  Tear Soup is about a woman, Grandy, who has suffered a loss in her life.  To help process her grief the woman cooks up a batch of “tear soup” of which the ingredients are the emotions she has experienced. Along the way she dispenses a recipe of sound advice for people who are in mourning or know someone who has suffered a loss.  This story validates the reader grief experience.  The book ends with a nice summary of Grandy’s journey, “I’ve learned that grief, like a pot of soup, changes the longer it simmers and the more things you put into it. I’ve learned that sometimes people say unkind things, but they really don’t mean to hurt you…and most importantly, I’ve learned that there is something down deep within all of us ready to help us survive the things we think we can’t survive.”

Central Literary Elements:  Tear Soup is a modern day fable that is beautifully and poetically written.  This story book is about a woman who has suffered a loss and cooks up a special batch of “tear soup,” blending the ingredients of her life into the grief process.  Tear Soup has incredible insight into the grieving process and puts it into a simple metaphors that makes it understandable.  It also helps those going through it see that they are normal, and helps those trying to be there for the grieving person understand what their loved one is going through.  This story illustrates that it acceptable for every reader to absolutely do grief “their way.”  This book has rich illustrations and will generate topics of discussion for the reader.

Perspective on gender/race/culture/economics/abilities:  This book may be difficult for preschool children to understand the significance of all the metaphors.

Theological Conversation Partners:  John 14:18, Psalm 46:1, 2 Corinthians 1:3-4

Faith Talk Questions:

1. Where is God when you feel alone?
2. How long is the grief cycle? How do you cope?
3. What does metaphor of tear soup represent in your life?
4. What other types of loss do people deal with during the course of their lives?
5. Is there a difference between grieving the other losses and grieving a love one that has died?
6. What smells evoke memories of a loss? How do you manage this from day to day?

This review was written by Union Presbyterian Seminary student Tim Tate.

Beyond the Ridge

Name of Book:  Beyond the Ridge

Author:  Paul Goble

Illustrator:  Paul Goble

Publisher:  Bradbury Press

ISBN:  0-02-736581-6

Audience:  Ages 6 -10

Summary:  An old woman, a Grandmother, who is a Plains Indian, lies dying with her husband, daughter, and grandchildren surrounding her. She hears a voice telling her that her mother is calling her, and she remembers that her mother died many years ago. She begins to make the difficult journey up a steep hill to a pine-covered ridge. She knows that she must make this journey alone. As the story continues, she reaches the ridge and she is able to see “beyond the ridge” to the Spirit World, or the Land of Many Tipis. It is a beautiful land–full of butterflies, birds, herds of buffalo and antelope. She sees her mother and father and grandparents and all the people she had known previously. When the old woman dies, her spirit departs and her body is left behind. Her family is sad, and they grieve for her. They perform burial rights for her in keeping with their ways.

Literary elements at work in the story:  The author’s beautiful drawings of the Plains Indian people, the native birds and animals, the sky and the landscape, all portray a deep respect for the Plains Indian people. The author’s use of contrasting colors and shapes, tells a story of its own. Words written in italics in the book are words that were actually spoken by Indian people. The author provides the sources of these words and phrases on page four of his book. The author also explains some of the customs of the Plains Indian people in his “note from the author” which enrich his story.

How does the perspective on gender/race/culture/economics/ability make a difference to the story? In our current culture which is too frequently characterized as a youth culture, this book describes the process of dying as a natural part of life. The Plains Indian people described in this book were greatly saddened by death, but saw it through the eyes of their own culture. The author skillfully draws parallels between the Plains Indian culture and the American culture.

Theological conversation partners:    The author writes:  “Death seems like the end, but it is not. The body goes back to the earth, but the spirit lives forever.” Our Christian teaching says that the spirit does not die. The Plains Indians’ idea that heaven is a place of beauty and peace is widely accepted in Christianity. The vision of death being one in which a person is reunited with those who have died previously is a shared belief between the two cultures.  While Christians call on the name “God,” the Plains Indian people say “the Creator, the Great Spirit.” The book also says those people who have led good lives, and those people who have led bad lives, go to separate places in the sky. The author fittingly provides a brief Indian prayer to Wakan Tanka, Great Spirit, at the end of his book.

 Faith Talk Questions:

1. Can you imagine yourself being a granddaughter or grandson of the Plains Indian woman?
2. What would you eat if you were a Plains Indian child?
3. How would you dress each day if you were a Plains Indian person?
4. What would your life be like as a member of a tribe of the Plains Indian people?
5. What are some of the differences between your culture, and the Plains Indian peoples’ culture?
6. What are some of the similarities between your culture and the Plains Indian people’s culture?
7. The book says that even the crows were mourning when the Plains Indian woman died. What do you think about this?
8. How do the Plains Indian people view animals such as the buffalo, and the antelope?
9. How do the Plains Indian people view death?
10. Has your grandmother or grandfather died? Are you able to put this experience into words? Can you write down your feelings? If your have not lost a relative to death, can you write about your feelings?

This review was written by Union Presbyterian Seminary student Chris Feno.

Dog Heaven

Name of Book:  Dog Heaven

Author:  Cynthia Rylant

Illustrator:  Cynthia Rylant

Publisher:  The Blue Sky Press

ISBN:  0590417010

Audience:  Ages 4 and up.

Summary:  Any child or former child who has ever lost a beloved pet wonders what plan God has for that pet’s afterlife.  Dog Heaven creatively answers that question about the canines which have traveled beyond this earthly life.  As it turns out, Heaven is a pretty nifty place for dogs, designed as it is by a God who is thoughtful, loving, and quirky.

Literary elements at work in the story:   Dog Heaven reads a bit like a travelogue.  We learn that the first thing dogs encounter in Dog Heaven is fields, “because God knows that dogs love running best.” God apparently also knows that dogs love children, dog biscuits (in funny shapes, like kitty-cats, ham biscuits and squirrels), comfy beds (clouds turned inside out), and, of course, the people who loved them on earth.  Rylant’s flat, boldly colorful acrylic paintings reveal this setting in illustrations that might have been created by the very children who will be reading the book.  The text has a comforting matter-of-fact tone, likely to provide reassurance to the reader as it describes the place where all good dogs go.  Of course, “Every dog becomes a good dog in Dog Heaven.”

How does the perspective on gender/race/culture/economics/ability make a difference to the story? Dogs and angels come in all shapes, sizes, ages, and races in this story.  One wonders, then, why God is pictured as an elderly Caucasian man with a purple pork-pie hat.   

Theological conversation partners:   There are sure to be those who would argue that there is no scriptural basis for animals of any sort going to Heaven.  Rylant, and presumably anyone whose heart has ever been captured by a pet, might counter that there are plenty of assurances that God loves God’s creation.

As we see on the fifth and sixth days of creation (Genesis 1:20-31), God creates all the living things of the water, the skies, and the earth, and God is well-pleased with these creations and with the paradise in which they will live.  God’s joy in providing what is good is echoed in Dog Heaven. The underlying theological theme of this book is that God loves and understands the creatures which God has created and provides what is best for each. The many scriptural assurances of God’s love and comfort are also likely theological conversation partners which could be used in conjunction with this book.   Psalm 23 promises that God will be with us in good times and in bad.  Matthew 6:26 declares that God feeds the birds of the air and will watch after us, too.  Isaiah 25:8 says that “the LORD will swallow up death forever. The Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces.”

Faith talk questions:

1. How do you think God felt when all the animals of earth were created?
2. What are some of the ways that God takes care of all of God’s creatures on earth?
3. How does Cynthia Rylant imagine that God continues to take care of dogs in Heaven?
4. Have you ever had a pet that died?
5. How did you feel?
6. What do you think God might say to you when you are sad?
7. Imagine your pet in each one of these pictures.  What do you think God might say to your pet?

This review was written by Union Presbyterian Seminary student Beth Lyon-Suhring.

Badger’s Parting Gifts

Name of Book:  Badger’s Parting Gifts

Author:  Susan Varley

Illustrator:  Susan Varley

Publisher:  Mulberry Books

ISBN:  0-688-11518-7

Audience:  Ages 4 and up

Summary:  It was winter. Badger was old and knew that he would die soon. “His body did not work as well as it had in days gone by.” He wished he could prepare his friends for the time when he would not be live with them. But because he knew his time was coming soon, Badger wrote a letter to his friends saying good bye. All the animals were very sad when they learned that Badger had died. Before he died, Badger told his friends not to be sad, but it was hard for the animals not to be sad. They missed Badger. In the spring the animals got together to talk about Badger. They discovered that each animal had received a gift from him. In remembering Badger’s gifts, each animal is heartened and encouraged.

Literary elements at work in the story: This is an uplifting story which can help children who are grieving the loss of a grandparent. It is a story of loss which can help children and people of all ages, but it is particularly suited to those persons who are grieving the loss of someone who has been having problems with poor health due to age.

How does the perspective on gender/race/culture/economics/ability make a difference to the story? The fact that the story is told with animals instead of people gives it a universal theme for every child and person. The story would not be helpful for people in a culture that does not value animal stories.

Theological conversation partners:  Badger left “gifts” to his friends. He is remembered by how he acted towards his friends, and what he did—in life. He taught Mole how to cut out a special chain of paper moles; he taught Frog how to ice skate; he taught Fox how to knot a tie; and he taught Mrs. Rabbit how to bake wonderful gingerbread cookies. Not only was Badger a teacher, he was “dependable, reliable, and always ready to help when help was needed.” Badgers’ gifts to his friends were a legacy, and invaluable. When his friends remember each gift they received from Badger, they are comforted. Jesus left his teachings to his friends and to the world—gifts which are revered and treasured. The New Testament scriptures of the Bible record Jesus’ teachings to his first disciples, and to us in the world today.

Faith Talk Question: 

1. Do you understand how the animals felt after Badger died?
2. Have you lost someone who was very special to you?
3. If so, can you remember any gifts that person left you?
4. How does remembering the gifts someone left you–comfort you, now that person is no longer here?
5. Can you think of any gifts that you might “give” to others someday?

This reviewed was written by Union Presbyterian Seminary student Chris Feno.

A Monster Calls

Title:  A Monster Calls

Author: Patrick Ness

Illustrator:  Jim Kay

Publisher:  Candlewick, 2011

ISBN:  9780763655594

Audience:  Ages 12 and up

Summary:  Conor O’Malley’s mother is dying of cancer.  The treatments aren’t working but the adults around Conor-his mother, his grandmother, his visiting father from America, his teachers-allow his hopes to live.  Each day he struggles in school against persecution by Harry, the bully, condescending pity from teachers and isolation from classmates.  He tries to ignore the reality that he will probably have to go live with his brisk, no-nonsense grandmother in her spotlessly perfect house, that his divorced father will not take him.  And every night he is awakened by a nightmare too horrible to remember.  Then one night the old yew tree by the church in back of his house appears as a monster because, he says, Conor has called him.  Conor wants the monster to heal his mother; the monster says he is here to heal Conor.  And so he tells him three stories and says that Conor must tell the fourth.  It is the scariest, most difficult challenge that Conor faces: he must speak the truth.

Literary elements at work in the story: This is a work of art, an adaptation of an idea suggested by young adult author, Siobhan Dowd, before her early death.  The yew tree is an ancient symbol of death and is part of both Druid and Celtic myth. It is extremely poisonous but its bark is the source of taxol, an experimental treatment for cancer. Patrick Ness takes Dowd’s idea and weaves it into a painful, sad, funny, wise tale told in spare, eloquent sentences and with brooding pen and ink drawings to bring an elemental monster to life.  The monster says “Stories are the wildest things of all.  Stories chase and bite and hunt.”  It’s difficult to distinguish between Conor’s and the monster’s action. This story will linger long after the book is closed.

How does the perspective on gender/race/culture/economics/ability make a difference to the story? This is an English family.  The parents are divorced and the father lives with his new wife in America.  Grief and death are universal and none of the factors suggested shape the story

Theological Conversation Partners: Guilt, anger, grief, death, punishment, forgiveness, truth-this novel, without referring specifically to theology at all, touches on almost every facet of the Christian life. A powerful monster outside of Conor is needed to enable him to face himself and his mother’s death. The Christian faith offers answers, resources, ministry for each of these needs and conditions which the story so poignantly presents. And it offers power and strength beyond ourselves. John 1:8-9, for example, speaks of the need for confession and truth, of the promise of forgiveness and restoration.   See Psalm 32 as an example of a prayer of confession.  The strength Conor needs is ours in Christ’s promise to be with us always (Matt. 26:20b) or in the 23^rd Psalm.  The Psalms offer eloquent words to express grief and the joy of restoration (Psa.m 22:1,Psalm 86:1-7) .

Faith Talk Questions:

1. Has someone that you love died?  Do you recognize any of Conor’s feelings and experiences?
2. Is this a good description of the experience of grief?
3. The monster compels Conor to tell the truth about his nightmare, implying that there are serious consequences if he refuses.  What is difficult about telling the truth-about events, feelings, ideas?  And why is it so important?
4. Most Christian churches have a prayer of confession in their worship and we are called to confess out sins to God.  How is confession like telling the truth? What is the relation between the truth we tell and Christ who is the Truth?
5. Why does Conor feel the need for punishment?  What is the Christian answer to this feeling?
6. In 1 Corinthians 15:20-26 Paul affirms the resurrection and Christ’s victory over death.  How does this change the Christian experience of death?
7. The monster says that stories “chase and bite and hunt.”  Jesus frequently used stories to teach.  Recall some parables Jesus told that would have made his hearers uncomfortable, puzzled, or even angry.

This review was written by regular contributor Virginia Thomas.

Teens and Faith: Three Short Reviews

Regular contributor Virginia Thomas offers three shorter reviews of books related to ways that teens engage questions of faith.

Title:  Preacher’s Boy

Author:  Katherine Paterson

Publisher: Harper Trophy

ISBN: 0064472337

Audience: Ages 10 and up

Summary: Robbie Hewitt decides to give up believing in God. He’s heard the visiting minister condemn wicked thoughts and deeds and suggest that the world will end in 1900.  He’s in trouble because he has disrupted church and, as the preacher’s boy, the congregation holds him to an unreasonably high standard.  If the world’s coming to an end he wants to get in a lot of living before then; he wants especially to ride in a motor car.  Robbie’s oldest brother is severely handicapped physically and mentally and Robbie envies the time and attention Elliot gets from his father.  He also fights with the rich Weston boys who make fun of Elliot. His life is complicated by two drifters who camp in his hideout, Violet and her alcoholic father , and a fake kidnapping plot.  Finally a ride in a motor car restores Robbie’s faith and the new century begins with a joyous ringing of the church bells.

Giving up faith and doubting God are familiar themes for adolescents.  Robbie’s choice of “apeism,” a conflation of evolution and lack of faith, is chosen honestly; God interferes with the lifestyle he thinks he wants.  But what happens when you give up God?  When you need prayer? When you have to make a choice?  When you want to give thanks? When an answer to your deepest yearning can only be a miracle? Robbie’s father is a Christian minister seldom seen in fiction: gentle, modest, open to new ideas, strong in conviction and charitable in relationships.  Robbie is one of Katherine Paterson’s most appealing characters.  Through his voice she examines a young person’s developing faith and understanding.

Title:  Armageddon Summer

Author: Jane Yolen, Bruce Coville

Publisher: Harcourt, Brace & Col.

ISBN: 0152022686 pb.

Audience: Ages 12 years and up

Summary:  Reverend Beelson is taking 144 believers to the top of  Mt. Weeupcut to await the End on July 27, 2000 when God will destroy the world and begin anew.  Fourteen-year old Marina’s mother insists that Marina and her four brothers join her there to prevent their destruction.  Marina’s father stays behind.  Sixteen-year old Jed follows his father to the mountain to look after him. He has been less than stable since his wife left him for another man.  In alternating voices, Marina and Jed tell their stories of the month on the mountain interspersed with county sheriff’s reports, Rev. Beelson’s sermons, the rules for Weeupcut’s camping facilities, and a physchologist on a radio talk show. Marina wants desperately to believe; Jed is firmly skeptical.  Events play out in a violent, dramatic climax as outsiders try to force their way into the camp to be safe with the believers. “Did we do wrong in believing? Asks Marina’s mother. “Never in believing, “ answers Marina, “just in what we believed.”

With the Left Behind series in the movies and news, Christians are prompted to ask what we do believe about eschatology or end times. This is a thought provoking, gripping book about belief, the search for belief, what happens when belief fails. Jed and Marina are well drawn, appealing young persons who survive the summer and begin to search for faith anew.  Before tackling this book is is well to know at least one basic fact about biblical eschatology: Acts 1:6,7.

Title:  The Heavenly Village

Author: Cynthia Rylant

Publisher: Scholastic Press

ISBN: 0439231493

Audience: Ages 9 years and up

Summary: The Heavenly Village is a place of peace and beauty with flowers, a river, trees, small houses and shops.  It is a stopping place for spirits who are not quite ready for heaven, for those who need to finish their stories. People are always arriving or leaving, something or someone is always being mended.  Here you will find Everett, a bank teller who needs time to see beauty he ignored on earth.   There is Violet Rose, a baker, who is still concerned for her cats. Dr. Blake was so busy on earth that he never had time for his family or to listen to his patients.  Now since no one is really ill, he listens to his patients for hours (and they think they are in heaven) and visits his home each evening, unseen by his family. And there’s Fortune, the rescue dog, who was a nuisance in Heaven but is quite useful in Heavenly Village.  There is some provocative idea on almost every page.  For example, God is surprised that no one wants to lose weight in Friendly Village.  Since they are not worried about what others think about their looks, they decide they look just fine. Or God usually sends a messenger or loved one to welcome a new spirit to Heaven.  He has learned that most people like to get a little unpacked before they meet the Creator.  This is a short, delightful, beautifully written plotless collection of characters and incidents.

What happens after death?  The Heavenly Village will stimulate discussion but not provide any answers.  The Bible gives us few details (and it’s well to know 1 Cor. 15, 1 Thes., Rev. 22, John 14 before you discuss  this book) but we can’t seem to get beyond time and space, beyond golden streets and gates of pearl and white robes. Rylant frees our imaginations. The book has more to say about life than the hereafter, about how we fail and how we grow.  God is depicted as gentle, wise, meeting the needs of all of his children but rather limited on earth. (Rylant is not concerned with sexist pronouns.)  Each chapter has a Bible verse introducing it and it’s worth some time to think about why a verse was chosen for a particular chapter. This is by no means a book of theology but it does stimulate theological thinking and it is fun.

Brother Sun, Sister Moon

Title: Brother Sun, Sister Moon

Author: Katherine Paterson

Illustrator:  Pamela Dalton

Publisher:  Chronicle Books

ISBN:  9780811877343

Audience:  Ages 4 and up

Summary: “The Canticle of the Creatures” or “The Canticle of the Sun” (13^th Century) is one of the most familiar songs of praise in the world.  Written by St. Francis of Assisi in the last few years of his life, it is possibly the earliest piece of written literature in the Italian language. “All Creatures of Our God and King,” written for a children’s choir festival c 1900, is the familiar paraphrase in most hymnbooks.

In Brother Sun, Sister Moon Pamela Dalton brings the text to life through Scherenschnitte (scissor cuts).  With scissors, water colors, and a single sheet of paper for each page,  Dalton fashions an amazing world of variety and beauty.  The more daring enterprise is Katherine Patterson’s who re-imagines the text.  Patterson has literary credentials to burn but this is a little like adding a few lines to the Mona Lisa! Still with her usual verbal clarity and grace, she enriches and illumines, almost a match for the illustrations.  The cut shapes are set on a background of black; the text fits around, under, between the designs.  The original prayer is printed at the end and Patterson and Dalton comment on their work.

Literary elements at work in the story: Francis wrote this song in Umbrian, the language of the people, and Patterson’s expansion of the text maintains this accessibility as well as the poetic quality.  The art, however, dominates this book visually and spatially. It would be good to match this text with pictures of the natural world in another book.

How does the perspective on gender/race/culture/economics/ability make a difference to the story? Scherenschnitte is a 16^th century German art form which may help to explain why the illustrations include only Caucasian children who seem to live on a European farm.  Children of any other race or who live in any setting other than rural will not see themselves here. Patterson attempts to make our language about God inclusive speaking of  Sister Earth “declaring God’s mother love” for us and praising God as the “Father and Mother” of all creation.  Francis’ original text is translated Sister Mother Earth; this text speaks of Sister Earth; the current PCUSA hymnal sings of fertile earth. But the words that children who have grown up singing the 1900 paraphrase are “Dear Mother Earth.” so speaking of God as Mother may be confusing.  In this case the point may be too minor to make but on the rocky road of inclusive language it is important to be sure we keep the distinction between God, the Creator,  and earth, the creation, clear.

Theological Conversation Partners: Praise is the beginning and the end of the Christian life and Francis’s prayer is a marvelous vehicle for giving it voice.  The created world, including death, is a cause for praise: Job 38-9, Psalms 8, 65, 104, 139:14.  Human compassion, peacemaking, and suffering are occasions for praise: Phil 4:4-7; Matt 5:3-9. “In the beginning God created…” and the created world has been speaking of God’s love and power ever since. Ps.19,  Genesis 1 and 2 tell us that we are part of this created world with a special relationship to God and a special responsibility in creation. The Canticle sings of our kinship with all created things. Jesus teaches us to look at the natural world to understand trust. Mt. 6:26-30. This book could be a guide to prayer for a family and a resource for any church school class.  It has no age limits.

Faith Talk Questions and Activities For All Ages

1. Look.  Every detail in the illustrations helps us marvel at God’s creation.  How many different things can you find on the cover?  On the cover inside as you open the book?  Don’t miss the caterpillar.  O Lord, how many are your works! Ps104:24
2. Most of these illustrations are of a farming community.  What wonders of God’s creation do you see around you in your neighborhood?
3. Talk about the gifts that sun, moon, wind, air, water, fire, and fertile earth give us.
4. What impact would speaking of earth and water as sister and brother have on our treatment of our environment?
5. Francis praises God for those who forgive and make peace.  Is this as great a miracle or gift as air or water?
6. Francis’s poem praises God for those who suffer sickness and trial in peace.  The paraphrase asks for God’s comfort for them.  Why did Francis praise rather than ask God for comfort? Is it possible to praise God for suffering?
7. Paul speaks of Death as the last enemy to be overcome. 1 Cor. 15:26.  Francis speaks of Sister Death who will usher us “into your loving presence.” Who is right? Paul wrestles with this question in Philippians 1:21-26.
8. Draw or collect pictures of things in the world for which you praise God.  Make a collage.

Review prepared by regular contributor Virginia Thomas

Mockingjay

Name of Book:  Mockingjay

Author:  Suzanne Collins

Book Design:  Elizabeth Parisi

Publisher:  Scholastic Press

Audience:  Ages 12 and up

Summary:  The third in a trilogy of science fiction stories, Mockingjay is written for adolescent youth and older due to graphic and violent content.

Katniss Everdeen has survived two rounds of competition in the Hunger Games arena and returns to District 12 to see the ruins after it has been bombed and destroyed by the Capitol. Citizen refugees have been relocated to District 13, the first district destroyed by the Capitol which went underground. The residents of District 13 and the refugees have together plotted the details of the revolution and assassination plan for President Snow.

Peeta has been captured and tortured by President Snow and special army team from District 13 is sent to the Capitol to rescue Peeta and other games survivors. The Capitol retaliates with bombing the districts, but 13 is spared. The district president works to create an army capable of leading the other districts in the revolution against the Capitol to gain freedom from oppression. With Katniss in the army group leading the way as the mockingjay, she will again experience and participate in violence and death as they work to rid Panem of the evil in power.

This particular book moves much more quickly through time than the past two in the series. A war rages on and much death and destruction take place, although it is described over weeks and months rather than days.

Note: While the series has no Christian references at all, there are a number of routes one can take in discussing Christian faith with teenage readers. Parents are strongly encouraged to read this book either before their children or alongside their children and engage in regular faith-based discussions.

Literary elements at work in the story:  This is a science fiction dystopia of revenge imposed by the country leadership onto the individual districts. It is told from the first person point of view of Katniss, a 16 year old tribute to the Games. It is her story of survival in not just the games, but in everyday life as a citizen of the poorest district in Panem. Katniss is portrayed as a survivor, as is her friend Gale, while many of the other child characters, including her sister (and even her mom) are portrayed as weak and needy. The setting of this book takes place in District 13, as well as in the Capital during war time.

How does the perspective on gender/race/culture/economic/ability make a difference to the story?  This book portrays all citizens of Panem, even those of District 13, as under oppressive authority. Many citizens have been tortured either physically or mentally, and even within the safety of the district, there is no freedom for citizens. The culture is that of a benevolent dictatorship, creating citizens who will survive the war and hopefully repopulate the country after it has been recaptured.

Scripture:  Isaiah 57:19-21

Theology:  As humans we fall short of the glory of God, but we are still loved and desired by God. We have turned away from God, and each other, in search of our own personal and societal gains. As sinners, we have gone against “the way it’s supposed to be.” We are unable to turn ourselves back toward God and unable to make our relationship with God and one another right. We have been sent Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, to lead us back into relationship with God and others.

Faith Talk Questions:

1. Have you ever been given a gift by someone that you know you can’t repay?
2. How can we trust God when we don’t physically see or feel God?
3. Are there any characters in the book that value human life?
4. What does God teach us about the value of a human life?
5. Katniss struggles with the loss of friends close to her and feels responsible. Have you ever lost someone close to you? Has someone close to you been hurt before? How did you feel?
6. How do you think God would react to the Capitol’s treatment of the citizens of Panem?

Review prepared by Union Presbyterian Seminary alumna Katie Todd