A simple yet surprisingly nuanced spiritual adventure.
A debut book presents a Christian tale for children.
The Institute for the Creation of New Essence Personalities is a place where angels experiment. They create new angels utilizing revolutionary techniques. While refining the process, they discovered that making a boy angel and a girl angel at the same time was a smart strategy. One day, a magnificent boy and girl pair is created. It turns out that new angels must attend school before they can be sent to Earth to be born as humans. But angel school can be intense. The archangel Gabriel warns his students that “you will find it is difficult to get your human body and brain to do what God would like as their design is to obey physical demands.” He explains that human bodies are “necessary vehicles for angels to evolve in awareness.” Fast-forward and that boy and girl from the institute have become humans. The boy is born into royalty as a prince. The girl is the daughter of a wealthy merchant family. The two meet at a young age, but, tragically, the girl’s days on Earth are remarkably short. Nevertheless, part of her Essence is passed on to another girl. When the prince grows up, he must find the one who received this Essence and help change the world for the better. While Polyakov’s series opener is brief, it still manages to go in some unexpected directions. The angel children, along with readers, learn not just about Christian beliefs, but also a slice of comparative religion. The kids are taught about the Buddhist Yogacara school and the idea of enlightenment. And how many Christian stories for children actually mention Enoch? Once the action moves to Earth, things get a little dull. The angels-turned-humans wind up establishing something called “the Institute for Conscious Evolution and Human Development.” This institute may be a grand force for good but it is no more inviting than it sounds. Still, the odd origins of this tale, as explained in the epilogue, make this book even more unusual than readers may have imagined at the get-go.
A simple yet surprisingly nuanced spiritual adventure.Pub Date: March 26, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-228-85689-4
Page Count: 98
Publisher: Tellwell Talent
Review Posted Online: June 20, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A scrumptious treat to be savored and enjoyed, just like a fine holiday dinner.
On Christmas Eve, a large apartment house on 133rd Street in the Bronx becomes the site of a multicultural neighborhood party.
Manzano, a Pura Belpré honoree and Maria on Sesame Street, teams up with Caldecott honoree Priceman for this vibrant story. The setting is the apartment of a Puerto Rican family preparing their special Christmas Eve dinner. Mami is trying to cook a huge roast, but it won’t fit in her small oven. Papi and José decide to take the roast to their friend who owns a pizzeria to see if he can help. On their way, they meet several neighbors and friends of different ages and ethnic groups; all are stressed, lonely, or worried about money. When the father and son return with the cooked roast, its delicious aroma transforms everyone who smells it, wafting them along on swirls of contented delight. They all float up the stairs to the apartment for a Christmas Eve dinner, fitting everyone into just one small apartment—a Christmas miracle. The polished text uses dramatic pacing, dialogue, emotion, and characterization to excellent effect. Priceman’s dazzling illustrations are filled with pulsating energy, glowing colors, and the radiant smiles of the neighbors who find community together. A magical, hopeful vitality permeates the art, reflected in multiple swirling elements wound through the illustrations.
A scrumptious treat to be savored and enjoyed, just like a fine holiday dinner. (Picture book. 4-9)Pub Date: Sept. 22, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-689-87887-9
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2015
Although metaphysical rumblings may disturb adults, this wily symbolism-studded fantasy should appeal to children of an imaginative turn. While exploring an old English mansion, the four children—Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy—discover through passing into a wardrobe, the strange land of Narnia, where it is winter without ever becoming Christmas. The children soon are swept up in the terror of the rule of the White Witch, fighting with the other subjects—all animals—and the glorious Lion, Asian, who brings spring and hope with him. In spite of the White Witch's terrific enslavement of Edmund, her horrid power, which changes living things to stone, and the sacrificial death of Aslan, the forces of light win, the children are made kings and queens, and Asian returns to life. The plot thickens to a pretty heavy pudding at the end, but the prose is witty and the novel action is fast-moving. Not recommended for adults!
Pub Date: Nov. 6, 1950
ISBN: 978-0-06-171505-1
Page Count: -
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: April 9, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1950
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