Extra Yarn

Title:  Extra Yarn

Author:  Mac Barnett

Illustrator: Jon Klassen

Publisher: Balzr + Bray

Publication Date: 2012

ISBN: 9780061953385

Audience: 4-8 years

Summary: One cold afternoon in a colorless town covered with white snow and black soot a little girl named Annabelle found a box full of colorful yarn.  Annabelle went home and knit herself a sweater; extra yarn was left.  So she knit a sweater for Mars, her dog and still there was extra yarn. She knit a sweater for a boy who made fun of her and for his dog.  Again extra yarn. She knit sweaters for all of her school class and the teacher so they wouldn’t be distracted by the bright colors she wore.  Soon all the animals in town wore sweaters as well as the buildings, the mailboxes, and a truck.  The town was changed.  Word of Annabelle and her endless supply of yarn spread and reached an archduke who was very fond of clothes.  He tried to buy the box of yarn and when Annabelle refused, he stole it.  When he opened it at home, he found it empty so he threw the box into the sea uttering his family curse on Annabelle, “You will never be happy again.”  But the box floated home to Annabelle, full of yarn once more, and she was.

Literary elements at work in the story: The wonder of this story is not the words but the pictures as Annabelle’s knitting clothes the town with color.  The brief text is just enough.  The book has the feel of an uncomplicated fairy story.

How does the perspective on gender/race/culture/economics/ability make a difference to the story? These perspectives intrude very little in a story of magic.  Annabelle is a girl and the dominant figure.  One man stands in the snow with few clothes and will only accept a hat so some difference is celebrated.  The villainous duke is rich, casting a shadow on wealth. There is no ethnic diversity.

Theological Conversation Partners: This is a book to read for fun; don’t immediately try to extract a moral from it. Any adult will recognize in this story unexpected bounty, a generous spirit, the effect of beauty and the sterility of greed, all important topics in the Christian life. This book will be read many times and some of these observations may emerge in discussion.  Annabelle is a model of good stewardship as she shares the gift that has come her way and makes her surroundings beautiful. John the Baptists reminds us of what to do with extra gifts in Luke 3:10.  Selfish greed cannot receive such a gift. We are, of course, recipients of such bounty every day, not by magic but by God’s providence. Psalm 104 and Matthew 6:26-30, Genesis 1 may help readers to name some of these gifts. Beyond material gifts we have spiritual gifts.  John 14:2-27; Galatians 5:22.  The story of Elijah and the widow of Zarephath is a similar story in the Bible. I Kings 17:8-18.

Faith Talk Questions:

1. How did Annabelle get the box of yarn.  Where did it come from?
2. How did Annabelle’s knitting help the town?
3. Why did the Duke want the yarn?
4. Why was the yarn gone when the Duke opened the box?
5. Have you ever received an unexpected gift? What did you do with it?
6. What gift or gifts have you received that you can share without having any less?

This review was written by graduate and regular contributor Virginia Thomas.

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

The Wonderful Happens

Title:  The Wonderful Happens

Author:  Cynthia Rylant

Illustrator:  Coco Dowley

Publisher:  Simon and Schuster

Publication date: 2000

ISBN number: 978-0-689-86355-4

Intended Audience :  Ages 4 and up

Summary of book:   Through poetry the reader is guided to look at everyday things as remarkable.  The book finds the beauty in the creation of things.  The end of the book recognizes that the reader is part of the wonderful things in the world.

Literary elements at work in the book (genre, characters, plot, language, illustrations, dialogue, repetitions, etc.):   This book has a wonderful sense of repetition in the phrases, so that kids can start helping to fill in words.  This book is a gift and allows readers to look at the everyday world around them as a gift and a blessing.

How the book presents gender, race, culture, economic status, abilities/disabilities, age, etc.:

There are only a few people represented in the book.  The people are mostly kids, so there is no deference given to the elderly.  There are a variety of races represented.  Both genders are represented equally.  There is no representation of culture, economic status, or abilities/disabilities.

Theological Conversation Partners:  Genesis 1:1 – 2:3; Psalm 139: 13-14

Faith Talk Questions:

1.  What does the phrase “The Wonderful Happens” mean?

2.  What is your favorite part of the book?

3.  What is something “wonderful that has happened” in your life?

4.  In the Genesis and Psalms passages, who is responsible for the ‘wonderful that happens’? How does God create?

5.  Is it hard to look at yourself as wonderful?  Why or why not?

This review was written by Union Presbyterian Seminary student Jessie Smith.

Stellaluna

Title of Book:  Stellaluna

Author:  Janelle Cannon

Publisher and Publication date:  Harcourt Brace & Company, 1993

ISBN number:  0-15-280217-7

Audience:  Ages 4 – 8

Summary:  Stellaluna is a baby bat who is separated from her mother during an owl attack.  She ends up in a bird’s nest befriending the baby birds and being cared for by the mother bird.  As she grows she begins to act like a bird.  Along her journeys as she grows she meets other bats and becomes reunited with her mother.  They teach her how to be a bat and she realizes that she isn’t being who she was created to be and that life is much better for her as a bat.  She finds her bird friends and shares her new bat skills with them and tries to teach the birds how to be a bat.  The birds aren’t very good at being a bat and run into trouble.  They wonder together how they can be so alike and yet so different.  

Literary elements at work in the story:  From the very beginning, readers will be wondering how Stellaluna will survive the owl attack and make it without her mother.  The author uses suspense, humor and dialogue between the bats and birds to keep the reader engaged.  There are beautiful illustrations to enhance the story and help the reader visualize Stellaluna’s journey.  This would also be a great story to use in a readers theater or for children and youth to act along with the reading.

Presentation of gender/race/culture/economic status/age/disabilities/etc:  This story highlights the different gifts, abilities and strengths that bats and birds have, like people.  Each is uniquely made with different abilities.  These creatures are very similar but also very different.  The book represents that neither is better than other, just different.

Theological conversation partners:  Two prominent themes are represented in this story.  One is the love and care for your neighbor.  The other is how we are each uniquely made yet at the same time we are all the same, children of God.  Following along the lines of this theme is the idea of being who God created you to be and not trying to be someone else.  Love your neighbor-Deuteronomy 6:5, Mark 12:31, Matthew 25: 31-46, Hebrews 13:2, Uniquely made-Psalm 139:13, Creation-Genesis 1, Spiritual gifts- 1 Corinthians 12: 1-11, 1 Peter 4:10, Romans 12, Ephesians 4,

Faith Talk Questions:

1. In what ways is Stellaluna shown the love of a neighbor?
2. How can you see God at work when bad things happen to Stellaluna?
3. How is Stellaluna unique from the birds?  What happens when she tries to act like a bird?
4. How does Stellaluna feel when she discovers her true self?  How does it change her life?
5. What do Stellaluna and her bird friends discover about themselves?
6. How are we like Stellaluna?

This review was written by Union Presbyterian Seminary student Lisa McLennan.

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?

May We Suggest……

Dr. Pamela Mitchell Legg, professor of Christian Education at the Union Presbyterian Seminary Charlotte campus, continues to teach her course on children’s and adolescents’ literature that was the impetus for this blog.  As we move into Advent and Christmas, she offers a bibliography of ten books that she loves.  They range from picture books to story Bibles and we hope you find something that helps you pick out a gift for a child or young person in your life!

Other lists that we love in evaluating books to purchase for our younger friends can be found here:

• The American Library Association’s yearly list of notable books for children and adolescents
• The BankStreet College of Education suggests the best books of the year broken down into several different age ranges.  Their reviewers occasionally include children!
• Publishers Weekly breaks down their best books of 2012 into picture books, fiction and non-fiction.  (And you can see their suggestions for best books for 2012 for adults as well.)

What books are you giving this year?

My Favorite Books for Christmas 2012

My Heart Will Not Sit Down

Name of Book:  My Heart Will Not Sit Down

Author:  Mara Rockliff

Illustrator:  Ann Tanksley

Publisher:  Alfred A. Knopf

ISBN:  9780375845697

Audience:  Ages 5 and up.

Summary:  It is 1931 in a village in Cameroon.  Kedi’s American teacher tells the students that children are starving “across the great salt river” because of the Depression going on in America.  Kedi, who has known hunger herself, is so moved by the idea of other children’s lack of food that she tries to raise money from the members of her village to help out.  Despite their own poverty, the villagers eventually give the few coins that they have.

Literary elements at work in the story:  Though the story is told in the third person, the reader sees the plot unfold through the eyes of the young girl, Kedi.  Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that we see this story through Kedi’s heart, since this narrative is about what happens when one small person is grasped by compassion and must act on what her heart tells her to do.  In a variation on traditional cumulative tales, Kedi goes from one member of her village to the next, asking each one if they have money to share with the starving children in America.  Tanksley’s bright watercolor and ink paintings show the reader a young Kedi humbly but persistently approaching one after another of the adults in her life.  Just as she thinks that there is no hope for this endeavor, all of the adults who originally tell her ‘no’ show up to give the teacher their coins.  The final painting in the book shows Kedi embracing her mother, grateful that now her heart can sit down in peace.

How does the perspective on gender/race/culture/economics/ability make a difference to the story? The setting and the characters of this story turn the familiar narrative of charity on its head.  Instead of a wealthy first-world community giving of their largesse, the poor Cameroonian villagers are moved by a story of need and give generously of what they have to the poor Americans.  The tale is doubly powerful because the main character is a young girl.  It is the youngest in this poor village who can prompt the adults to give liberally.

Theological conversation partners:  This story would be a good one to use in connection with the scriptural narrative of the widow’s mite (Mark 12:41-44).  Just as the woman at the temple “out of her poverty has put in everything she had,” Kedi’s neighbors also give the tiny bit of money that they have.  The theme of charity is a central one in this story and could be paired with any of the scriptural admonitions to take care of the poor (e.g., Proverbs 14:21).  Kedi and her neighbors would also serve as a striking example of Jesus’ Parable of the Sheep and the Goats: “Just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.” (Matthew 25:31-40)  Finally, although this book is not outwardly about Christians, the story illustrates Jesus’ commandment to his disciples to act in love: “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13: 34-35)

Faith talk questions:

1. Kedi’s teacher tells the class that there are hungry children in a land far away.  What do you think it means that Kedi’s “heart stood up for them in sympathy”?
2. What does Kedi decide to do for the hungry children in America?
3. Why do the grownups tell Kedi that they cannot help her?
4. What happens at the end of the story?  Why do you think the grownups changed their minds?
5. Jesus asks us to help people who are hungry and thirsty and sick.  I wonder what you could do to help hungry people?

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

More

Title:  More

Author:  I.C. Springman

Illustrator: Brian Lies

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

ISBN: 9780547610832

Audience: 4 and up. Age 3 is not too young; adult is not too old.

Summary: A magpie is given a marble by a mouse.  The magpie flies to his nest and places it there. Now he has something.  The something inspires him to get a few more somethings.. He moves on to much, way too much and finally more than enough.  The whole collection crashes to the ground, burying the magpie. With the aid of the mouse and his friends,  the pile of everything burying the magpie is removed piece by piece to become less, a lot less, and finally just enough.  The magpie and the mouse fly off with just a marble, a chess piece, and a ribbon, joyfully free.

Literary elements at work in the story: This is a picture book, and what a picture book! There are about 30 words signifying quantity; several pages are wordless. But the pictures are clear, the colors strong, the details impeccable.. It’s a fascinating exercise to examine the objects the magpie adds-a lego block, a watch, a stamp, a book mark, a comb,  etc., etc., etc. and to see the nests increase to accommodate these somethings. It is equally fascinating to watch the mice remove this accumulation piece by piece.. Some pictures are a full two page spread, some single page, some a quarter of a page.  A puzzle: one of the magpie’s legs is clearly banded and numbered.  Why? The moral of the story is unmistakable; it’s telling, a delight.

How does the perspective on gender/race/culture/economics/ability make a difference to the story? The magpie may be male or female.  A choice had to be made in the summary and this reviewer chose male. Changing the sex will make no difference in the story.

Theological Conversation Partners: We are a society of consumers. Many children with whom you will share this book have rooms like the magpie’s nests.  Jesus had more to say about possessions than almost any other subject.  Having things can come between us and God. Our hearts will go with our treasure. The rich young man went away sadly from Jesus because he had great possessions. Luke 18:18-24 The parable of the rich fool pairs almost perfectly with this book. Luke 12:12-21

Faith Talk Questions:

1.  At first the magpie’s nest was empty.  Where did he get the marble?  Why did the mouse give it to him.  Was this a friendly thing to do?
2. What did the magpie collect next?  Why?
3. How many nests did he have to build for his collection?
4. What do you see in the nests?  Can you count the number of things.
5. What is the difference between plenty and too much?
6. Do you collect toys and games like the magpie did?
7. Is it wrong to have something?
8. Jesus met a young man who, like the magpie, had collected much.  The story is in Luke 12:18-24.  What did Jesus think about collecting too much.
9. The last picture shows the magpie and mouse flying away with only 3 things.  Do they  seem happy?  Could they fly if they were carrying more?
10. The USA consumes almost 80 % of the world’s goods.  Think of the pictures in this book with us, rather than a magpie, collecting things.  Do we need them all?

This review was written by regular contributor Virginia Thomas.

Ella Enchanted

Name of Book:  Ella Enchanted

Author:  Gail Carson Levine

Publisher:  Harper Trophy

ISBN-10: 0-06-440705-5

Audience:  Age 8 and up

Summary:  Ella Enchanted tells the story of Ella who at birth is given the “gift” of obedience by the fairy, Lucinda. Ella explains that this “gift” is indeed a curse, because any order given Ella, she must obey. When she tries to disobey an order, she experiences breathlessness, nausea, dizziness, and other problems. Ella has several allies, but as the story continues and her mother dies, Ella is determined to find the fairy Lucinda and have Lucinda release her from the curse of obedience. Ella is sent off to finishing school by her father, where she is tyrannized by a girl named Hattie. After Ella’s father learns he has lost all of his money, he marries Dame Olga, who does have money. Ella’s step-mother, Mum Olga, her step-sister, Olive, and step-sister—the one and only, Hattie, all treat Ella very badly. Ella becomes a scullery maid in her new step-mother’s home. When three royal balls are held for the prince to select a bride, Ella decides to go and is magically transported to the palace. The conclusion of how Ella breaks the curse of obedience, and wins the prince as her husband is not to be missed!

Literary elements at work in the story:  The story is written in the first person, which helps the reader understand and empathize with Ella. The reader is privy to Ella’s private thoughts and dreams. Ella also has a magical fairy book which tells her the private thoughts of many of the people she knows. The author employs many magical themes in the story including different groups of people and creatures who speak five different languages: Gnomic, Abdegi, Ogresse, Elfian, and Ayorthaian. Ella tries to learn as much as she can about each language because she realizes the connection that exists between relationships and languages.

(Genre/setting/characterization/plot/theme/point of view/style)  The story is from the modern fantasy category. It is filled with a combination of fantasy, adventure, excitement, romance, and mystery. The characters in the story are primarily good, or primarily bad. Lucinda the fairy, aspires to change her behavior of being bad to being good. Lucinda is “taught” about this change by the “good” fairy, Mandy. Lucinda realizes her mistake in bestowing the gift of obedience to Ella, but she is not able to undo her mistake.

(How) does the perspective on gender/race/culture/economics/ability make a difference to the story? The issue of good and evil is addressed. The issue of good people being rewarded for their good behavior, is seriously questioned as we see Ella, believed to be good, being punished. The issue of overcoming evil with good is addressed when Ella outsmarts her attackers by her use of language and wit.    

Theological conversation partners:  Ella’s desire is to be able to make decisions for herself. She wants to be able to make choices. She rebels when she is forced into doing something that she is ordered to do. Many people in the book who find out about Ella’s curse of obedience, use this against her.

There are oppressed people in the world who face the same dilemma as Ella. Like Ella, they may be intimidated, ill treated, and abused. They know that they must comply with abusive laws and practices or be destroyed. Also, like Ella, they may rebel against their lack of rights and choices, and feel the same hopelessness that Ella feels at times in the book. The prevalence of human trafficking that continues to be a problem in the United States, and in other countries is an example of human enslavement which is intolerable.

There is the Old Testament account of Moses leading the people out of Egypt, and away from bondage by the Egyptians. Over and over again, history records stories of people who believe that they are entitled to dominate others, and remove the rights of others. Ella and her prince wish for peace among all the creatures of fairyland. They would support the quotation from Isaiah 2:4 which says, “He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.”

Faith Talk Questions:

1.   What do you think about Ella’s treatment by Hattie?

2.   Have you ever been bullied by another person?

3.   Why do you think Olive treated Ella badly?

4.   How does Ella “get even” when she is ordered around a lot?

5.   Does the finishing school remind you of anything you had to do in your life?

6.   What did you think of the fun loving prince who liked to slide down stair rails?

7.   Lucinda tries to make amends for her “gift” to Ella.  To what other character(s) does Lucinda make a gift?

8.   Ella’s father solves his problem of poverty by marrying the rich Dame Olga.  What do you think about his solution?

9.   If you were writing this story, would you change any of the plot?

10. What important lessons about life do you think Ella might teach her children?

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