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.

This Plus That: Life’s Little Equations

Title:  This Plus That:  Life’s Little Equations

Author:  Amy Krouse Rosenthal

Illustrator:  Jen Corace

Publisher:  HarperCollins

ISBN:  978-0061726552

Audience:  Ages4 yrs and up

Summary: Arithmetic is the tool for reducing important life experiences to their elementary parts. For example: “chalk + sitting=school.”or “wishes + frosting=birthday.” “anything + sprinkles is better.” Occasionally, addition doesn’t work. “mumbling + toe staring” does not equal polite.  ( The picture helps here.)  Chores require division to equal a family.  Subtraction is necessary to remove a few things and love requires multiplication. Preschoolers may not recognize all of these mathematical functions and the ideas in this book are not as simple as they look.  Still with whimsical illustrations and surprising combinations, Rosenthal and Corace touch on relationships and activities that are a daily part of a child’s life.. Some combinations are physical: musical instruments, colors, and hot soup; some are actions: somersaults, practice, or jumping.  And some are feelings like love. They all add up to a book to be enjoyed and shared.

Literary elements at work in the story:  Using mathematics rather than grammar allows the author to focus on the essence of these experiences in an almost poetry-like fashion.  It’s a wonderful device for stimulating the reader to think, to recognize and analyze. The pictures are essential..

How does the perspective on gender/race/culture/economics/ability make a difference to the story?  The children who inhabit these pages are Caucasian.  The pictures are not realistic but there’s still an impression of uniformity.

Theological Conversation Partners: The unexamined life, says Socrates, is not worth living.  This Plus That is a beginner’s guide for examining life.  What makes a family, a friend, a season, real life?  Thinking in small, discrete terms is a good way to get young children to talk about anything. The Christian faith is full of words that children can begin to think about in this way: neighbor, friend, church, disciple. This book is more valuable for it’s approach to examining life than for any actual content although insights into friends, family, and love are rich in suggestions.

Faith Talk Questions and Activities.

1. What do the following word equations equal: learner+follower=, friendly+helping=, packing health kits+singing hymns=, listening+giving+praying+singing=, etc.
2. Let children make word equations for such words as celebration, joy, vacation,  Easter (or the nearest holiday), Bible.  The same activity works with Bible characters.
3. The book uses several words to describe friendship (one plus one, laughter, keeping secrets, sharing).  What words would you use to describe friends?
4. Jesus called us friends when we obey him. (Jn. 14;14, 15:14.  What words would you use to describe Jesus as a friend?
5. The next to last page in This Plus That describes a child’s love for her family.  What things in the picture help to describe her love? 1^st John 4:19 says that we love because God loved us first.  What words could you use to describe God’s love?

Review prepared by regular contributor Virginia Thomas

Verdi

Name of Book:  Verdi

Author:  Janell Cannon

Illustrator:  Janell Cannon

Publisher:  Harcourt Brace & Company

Audience:  Ages 3 – 7

Summary:  Verdi is a tender tale about a young snake’s desire to stay yellow, young, fast, and adventuresome, avoiding his perceived horrors of becoming green: old!

Verdi enjoys youth: running fast, climbing high, eating anything, and roaming far.  He fears growing green, lazy, old, and stationary.  That is until one day when the young snake takes a giant fall and requires the healing care of his elders.  Strapped to a branch for safety and mending, and with considerable time on his hands, Verdi hears the stories of his green caregivers and learns old snakes are not what they seem.

Literary Elements at Work:  There are two distinct and equally compelling literary devices that invite the listener/reader along on this adventure—storytelling and artistry.  Janell Cannon poignantly tells the risky journey of a young snake’s life from hatchling to adulthood.  Additionally, known for her attention to detail, particularly when rendering critters of all sorts and conditions, Janell Cannon tells the snake’s tale using visually stunning art, expression, and vibrant color.

Scripture:  For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace. (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, NRSV)

Theology:  God has created us, creates us and promise to re-create us—all of us: green and yellow, young and old, fast and slow, rude and kind.  Resting in God’s promises, we learn to embrace the whole of life with thanksgiving and joy.

Faith Talk Questions:

This story can serve as an illustration on our culture’s obsession with youth, our fear of growing old, and our lessening capacity to be still and listen.

Sit down beside your child.  Let her turn the pages.  Ask her what kinds of animals and insects and reptiles she sees on each page.  Go outside and look for these creatures in your backyard.  Spring is the perfect time to watch older birds, bunnies, and squirrels care for their young.  Ask her, “How would the baby birds learn to fly without their mom and dad?  How would they eat?  How would the bunnies learn to hop?  How would the squirrels learn to climb?”  Without mom and dad, young wildlife depend on human creatures for their care—vets and naturalists at Discovery Place, the Carolina Raptor Center and the Nature Museum here in Charlotte.  Visit some of these places.

Ask your child:

Verdi is afraid of growing old.  Why?

Verdi takes a long hard fall and gets hurt.  Who takes care of him?

While Verdi is healing, what does he learn about Aggie?  Ribbon?  Umbles?

When Verdi gets older, he meets two young and yellow snakes.  What does he teach them?

How can young snakes and old snakes be friends?  Suggest by listening to one another.

Children learn to listen to us through our ability to listen to them!  When your child(ren) talk, be still and listen.  Children learn to respect their elders when we respect our elders.  When older folks need your time, attention, or assistance, give your time, attention, and assistance.  Children learn to take care of creatures who are vulnerable: the sick, injured, dying, very young, elderly, poor when we care for those who are vulnerable.  Jesus taught us to heal the sick; mend the injured; visit the dying; care for the very young and the old; and feed, clothe, and give drink to the poor.  Perform these acts with your children.

Young and old need one another.  The young teach us to run fast, climb high, sing loudly, cry when it hurts, and take a nap when we’re tired.  The old teach us to be still, listen, tell stories, walk when you can’t run, and take a nap when we’re tired!  Thank God for the young and thank God for the old!

Review prepared by Union Presbyterian Seminary alumna Kim Lee

Tuck Everlasting

Title: Tuck Everlasting

Author:   Natalie Babbitt

Publisher:  Scholastic, Inc

ISBN:  9-780590-988865

Audience: Written for ages 9 -12, but this review suggests the book’s applicability to both young and mature audiences.

Summary:   The story starts with a young girl, Winnie, fed up with her family and wanting to run away.  She meets another family, the Tucks, in the woods near her home who whisk her away because she has discovered something that only they know about, a hidden spring a the center of the wood. During this abduction, they tell her that she must never drink from nor even tell anyone about the spring and their story.  Many years ago the Tucks came to settle there and each one, mother Mae, father Tuck, and their two sons Miles and Jesse, drank from the spring.  After living there for a few years they began to notice something odd about their lives.  They weren’t getting any older and each one survived what should have been fatal accidents (falling from a tree, hit by stray gunshot).  Winnie wasn’t sure what to make of the story but she discovered she liked these strange people, and they promised they’d return her to her home once they were sure she understood why this must be kept secret.  Meanwhile Winnie’s family  were frantically searching for her with the help of another stranger, identified only as the man in the yellow suit, who had a peculiar interest in finding her kidnappers, which he eventually did.  When he attempted to force Winnie back home, she resisted. Mae Tuck came to her defense with a shotgun, and in the ensuing tussle, delivered a fatal blow to the stranger’s head just as the town constable arrived on the scene.  Winnie was returned to her family and Mae was taken into custody for murder and sentenced to hang.  Only Winnie and the Tucks understood the horrible implications of this sentence.  Mae could not die, no matter how long she hung from the gallows.  Winnie sought out the Tucks again and together they devised a plan to break Mae out of jail. In a suspenseful climatic scene, they execute a masterful escape and that was the last Winnie ever saw of the Tuck family.  The story ends many years later when the Tucks return to the area to learn the fate of their little accomplice.

Literary Elements:   An allegory on the meaning of life’s impermanence, the story hovers between reality and fantasy set in the rural midwest sometime in the mid 19th century. Improbable as the plot may seem, the characters are palpably real.  Winnie is curious, restless, and compassionate. The Tucks have a melancholy wisdom born of their resignation to an endless life.  The villain in the yellow suit also knows the secret of the spring and has a sinister scheme for appropriating it to enrich himself. Winnie’s well-meaning but clueless parents and the fat old constable are made vividly familiar through narrative and dialogue.  Even a soft brown toad has a significant role. The narrative is superbly crafted with intense sensory imagery, most exquisite in a scene on the pond next to the Tuck household where father explains to Winnie the significance of what has happened to his family.  “The sky was a ragged blaze of red and pink and orange, and its double trembled on the surface of the pond like color spilled from a paintbox,” a photographic simile that a child could understand.

Theology:  Tuck uses the pond to teach Winnie something that very few people, young or old, can comprehend. “Life. Moving, growing, changing, never the same two minutes together. This water, you look out at it every morning and it looks the same but it ain’t. All night long it’s been moving, coming in through the stream back there to the west, slipping out through the stream down east there…”  He explains how the water evaporates and forms clouds and rains and fills the pond again. Then he drifts the boat into the branches of a partially submerged fallen tree. “That’s what us Tucks are, Winnie.  Stuck so’s we can’t move on…And everywhere around us, things is moving and growing and changing. You, for instance. A child now, but some day a woman, and after that moving on to make room for new children.” Having already considered drinking from the spring, Winnie protested, “I don’t want to die,” but Tuck patiently puts it into perspective. Everybody thinks they want to live forever, but if they could they’d surely change their minds.  Forever is forever.  What this means becomes chillingly clear when Mae is sentenced to what would become endless brutal suffering. Profound truths and questions about the meaning of life and death lurk in the pages of this unusual story.

Faith Questions:

The author provides thoughtful literature circle questions at the end of the story, although none of them are theological. Here are a few suggestions:

1. How is the encounter between Winnie and the Tuck boy like the story of the Garden of Eden in Genesis?
2. In what ways is Mae like Jesus?  In what ways is she not like Jesus?
3. Does the man in the yellow suit remind you of anyone or anything in the Bible? Why?
4. Why do you think God didn’t create people so they would live forever?

Review prepared by Union Presbyterian Seminary student Susan Wills