The Magic Circle

Name of Book: The Magic Circle

Author: Donna Jo Napoli

Illustrator: unknown

Publisher: Dutton Children’s Books

ISBN:  0525451277

Audience: Ages 10 and up

Summary:   Author Donna Jo Napoli provides different voices and perspectives in her re-fashioning of well known fairy tales such as The Frog Prince and Hansel and Gretel.   The Magic Circle is a dark yet uplifting retelling of the Brothers Grimm story of Hansel and Gretel from the witch’s point of view.  The reader learns the ugly and evil witch was once a kind and well respected midwife.  Through the corrupt influences of a neighbor, the midwife is drawn into demonic powers so that she might increase her ability as a healer.  The price she must pay is a wicked and insatiable appetite for human flesh.  The “witch” is desperate to avoid this evil.  The Magic Circle is a story of the witch’s struggle to overcome evil and, through the innocent children Hansel and Gretel, find redemption and release.

Literary elements at work in the story:    Donna Jo Napoli artfully weaves a tale that engages the curious. The reader anxiously reads to uncover the “other side of the story” of Hansel and Gretel.  The setting is gritty – one can almost feel the dirt under foot of the midwife’s small home, smell the smoke of the cook-fire, hear the shrill voice of her vicious neighbor as she taunts, “Ugly One.”  This is a story of how a well-meaning healer spirals down into her own magic circle.  It is a story of her struggle living alone in an enchanted forest, slowly creating a cottage made of candy and other sweets.   Napoli keeps the suspense taut up to the inevitable ending, an ending that brings both release and redemption.

(How) does the perspective on gender/race/culture/economics/ability make a difference to the story?  The premise of this story is perspective.  Western culture is familiar with the Hansel and Gretel fairy tale and if not, the theme of the wicked stepmother is certainly familiar.  Cultures throughout the world have stories that are rooted in the pervasive evils that surround innocent children.  In The Magic Circle, the author extracts an element of evil, the witch, and reveals the struggles she endures with her demons.  In doing so, Napoli exposes that we are all subject to struggle with our own demons.

Theological conversation partners:  The longer one walks around within this story the more intriguing it becomes.  Both The Magic Circle and many of the well-known Brothers’ Grimm fairy tales are rife with menacing and constant evil.   Using this re-telling of a fairy tale would be a fun way to explore two themes that run throughout the scriptures – sin and redemption.

Faith Talk Questions:  The following is a suggestion for a two session study with tweens that uses this story in addition to Bible study:

• Session 1:  The Creepy and Crawly Things in the Old Testament.  Designed to be for information gathering and brief discussion.  The students look up various passages that relate to the following themes:
  • Magic in the Old Testament (Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, Judges, Daniel, 1 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings, 1 & 2 Chronicles, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel). Witch of Endor, Sorcerers / sorceress, Baal, Bel / Marduk, Asherah, Dagon, Pharaoh’s magicians
  • Cannibalism and other gross things in the OT  (Deuteronomy, Leviticus, Jeremiah, Ezekiel)

1.Did you there so many creepy crawly stories in the Bible?

2.Many of these stories relate how the Israelites became involved with witches or pagan gods.  Why do you suppose these are included?

3.After reading of the struggles of these ancient people, God’s Chosen People, how do you feel about your own struggles?

4.Can you identify when the midwife The Magic Circle became a witch?  After reading this book, do you view her as evil or as a person struggling to overcome personal demons?

• Session 2:  It All Works out in the end… Redemption in the Bible
  • Redemption in the OT (Children of Israel redeemed from the house of slavery; redeemed from sin – Yom Kippur, atonement, burnt offering.)
  • Redemption in the NT  - Christ redeemed us from under the Law

1.How can evil be redeemed by good?

2.How can one recognize evil in oneself?

3.In The Magic Circle, how is the witch redeemed?  Explore the relationship between Gretel and the witch.

4.Open discussion about sin and redemption

This review was written by Union Presbyterian Seminary student Cheryl Couch-Thomas.

The Quiet Book

Name of Book:  The Quiet Book

Author:  Deborah Underwood

Illustrator:  Renata Liwska

Publisher:  Houghton Mifflin Books for Children

ISBN:  978-0547215679

Audience:  Ages 3 and up; may work well as part of an intergenerational conversation.

Summary:  This picture book explores the many kinds of “quiet” that we experience throughout our lives. Young animals are seen in a variety of both positive and negative situations that might cause one to be quiet or contemplative – situations that reflect fear, awe, sorrow, hope, and more. From “first one awake quiet” to “sound asleep quiet,” the animals display a wide range of emotions that accompany the ups and downs of daily life.

Literary elements at work in the story:  This picture book incorporates sparse but rich text with gentle illustrations. While there is no structured plot, this story enlivens the reader’s imagination as it suggests all sorts of stories one might be able to tell about the events of any given day. The animal characters are both diverse and nameless; however, the illustrations and text work together to suggest a depth of character that might surprise the reader.

Perspective on gender/race/culture/economics/ability: The author makes use of a diverse set of animals, with many species and colors represented. The only indication of gender throughout the book is in the depiction of one mother and one aunt. Otherwise, the reader will have a difficult time making any distinctions about gender, thus allowing all readers to find themselves within the text at many points.

Theological Conversation Partners:  Psalm 23

Faith Talk Questions/Activities:

1. Purchase an additional copy of the book. (Ideally, purchase two copies so that both sides of each page may be utilized in this activity.) Cut out the pages so that they can be distributed to several small groups. Provide each group with several pages.
2. Ask students to identify the feelings of the animals in each kind of quietness that is shown in their group’s pictures.
3. Make a simple but large wall chart with “Peace – Sin – Awe – Sorrow – Fear – Hope” across the top. If you are working solely with children, briefly review/explain each term. For a multi-generational group, ask the groups to spend time talking about each term.
4. Ask each group to tack their book pages into the chart column that seems most appropriate for the depicted scene.
5. Write Psalm 23, verse by verse, on single sheets of paper. Use a large font. Distribute scripture slips to small groups. Ask each group to discuss the verse(s) they hold and to determine which part of the chart the scripture addresses.
6. Ask a member of the class to read Psalm 23 slowly. Hold up the pages from The Quiet Book that the groups have paired with each verse. (Pictures may or may not match up for every verse read.)
7. Discuss in small groups the many ways that we each feel fear, peace, sin, awe, sorrow, and hope in our own lives, and how God comforts us, celebrates with us, and gives us hope. Children might wish to share experiences similar to those depicted in The Quiet Book.

This review was written by Union Presbyterian Seminary student Catherine Lovejoy.

The Giver

Name of Book :  The Giver

Author:  Lois Lowry

Publisher:  Laurel-Leaf Books

Audience:  Ages 11 and up

Summary:  Jonas and his family live in a perfect society where no one feels emotions or has to think for themselves. Each member of the community has a role which is assigned to him or her when he or she turns twelve, and Jonas is selected for role of the Receiver, the one who will keep all of the memories of the community. In learning his new position, Jonas becomes frustrated with the community’s way of life and works with the former memory keeper, the Giver, to devise a plan of escape which will dispense all memories to the community, forcing them to have to deal with emotions and making decisions. The plans are amended due to an unexpected event, but Jonas still escapes from the community and begins to make his own memories when the ones given him start to fade. The story ends during the escape and the fate of the community following Jonas’s escape is unknown.

Literary elements at work in the story:  The story is a dystopia, set in a man-made and man-regulated society. It is told from the point of view of an omniscient narrator, but from Jonas’ perspective in the community. Jonas develops a relationship with the Giver and also a child Gabriel which compels him to take action toward change in the community. This is a good starting point to discussing the human nature of sin.

How does the perspective on gender/race/culture/economic/ability make a difference to the story? Because the story is set in a regulated community, there are really only perspectives on gender. The race is unknown, but is assumed to be white given the details about hair color and eye color. All members of the society are economically equal. Those who are unable to work or function appropriately, either for age or disability, are “released” from the society. The culture is man-made and man-regulated.

Scripture:  Galatians 3:3-4

Theology: God created us to know and love God and each other. We have turned away from God, and so from each other. We are unable to turn ourselves back toward God and unable to make our relationship with God and one another right. Someone outside of us, Jesus Christ, must come and turn us back toward God, to make our relationship with God and one another what it was supposed to be from the beginning.

Faith Talk Questions:

1. Did we create God, or did God create us?
2. Why do we think that we would do a better job of being in control than God?
3. What made Jonas’s society broken?
4. Do you see any pieces of Jonas’s broken society in our own society today? What?
5. Did God create us to all be the same? How do you know that God doesn’t want us to be the same?

Review prepared by Mason Todd, Union-PSCE in Charlotte

The Brimstone Journals

Name of Book:   The Brimstone Journals

Author:  Ron Koertge

Publisher:  Candlewick Press (2001)

No. of Pages:  113

Audience:  13-18 males and females.  This book would be good for small group discussion for Youth Group or with a Sunday school class.

Summary:   This book of poetry is written by a single (adult) author about a fictitious high school called Brimstone.  The story line follows 15 students from different social strata within the high school culture and records their “diaries” for a period of time leading up to a failed mass shooting attempt.  This book is perhaps more useable with a wider age range than a book wherein the planned killing is achieved since younger readers might find that outcome too disturbing.

Literary elements at work in the story:  Since there is a plot line that is being served by the free- verse poems, the movement is linear and progressive.  Each poem is designed to add another piece to the picture of what is being plotted by one group of students.  Presenting the poems as individual’s journal entries makes it more interesting than a single antagonist and in this way there are sub-plots woven into the story.  Having a variety of voices and perspectives also keeps the poems fresh in this relatively simple story line.

Perspective on gender/race/culture/economics/abilities:    The author has done a decent job of creating a cross-section of the average American high school culture.  There are voices from the African-American community that address race and social status, a girl with sexual orientation issues, a young conservative Christian who falls for a “player”, the outcasts, misfits, young thugs, and sports stars all find a place in this poetic drama.  While some of the character types are a bit cliché, there is someone for just about any young adult reader to identify with in some way.

Scripture:      Prov. 2:19-20, Prov. 3:29-31, Prov. 16:28-29, Prov. 24:8-12

Theology:     Proverbs is one of those books of the Bible that receives very little, if any, attention in most Sunday school classes.  The occasional misquoted or misattributed proverb pops up from time to time, but few people study this wisdom literature of the Old Testament.  The scripture selections are advice to the faithful and can serve as a wonderful starting point for discussion not only of the purpose and interpretation of the Book of Proverbs, but as a catalyst for conversation about the unchanging nature of sin…what was true in the day of Proverbs still holds true even in the hallways and classrooms of today’s modern high school:  There is maliciousness, violence, gossip, ambivalence, fear, “group think,” and temptation to sins of all kinds, just to name a few!   How do we then strive to live the Christian life in this world?  How do we take the advice of Scripture and follow in the straight path, avoiding the by-ways and turn away from the “road-side attractions” when all around us there are enticements, antipathy and trepidation?  Young people struggle greatly every day to answer these questions, consciously or subconsciously, when they arrive at their schools or hang out with their friends.  By pairing The Brimstone Journals with a study of Proverbs, there can be rich ground for conversation about the nature of sin, violence, friendship (neighbor), etc.  It is also a chance for young adults to spend some time in the Old Testament world and grow in their understanding of how some of the New Testament writings have their roots in this soil.

Faith Talk Questions:

1. First, I would ask the students to make a list of all the issues they can identify in the book and in the verses from Proverbs.
2. Of all these issues you named, which ones are going on in your school?  Are they more or less intense than the situation in the book/Proverbs?  In what way?
3. Do you identify with any one character in particular? Why?  Would you say that person was misunderstood? Why (not)?
4. How would you define “group think”?  Did you see that happening in this book?  Do you ever see it in your school?  Have you ever fallen into “group think” only to realize it later? What was the outcome?
5. We can probably all agree that violence, in general, is a bad thing; but what do you make of the verses from Proverbs 24?  What does it seem to be saying about the onlooker or bystander?  Do you agree with this? Why (not)?
6. If you were a student at Brimstone High School, what do you honestly think you would have done in that situation?
7. How can your faith be a guide when you are feeling overwhelmed by a situation at school or with friends?  Where can you turn if you think the problems are too big for you to handle?

Review prepared by Nadine Ellsworth-Moran, MDiv/MACE, Entering Cohort Fall 2004