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
A gritty story filled with hope and idealism.
A young boy is forced to leave the Chennai jail that is the only home he’s ever known.
When Kabir is deemed too old to stay and is sent out into the world all alone, separated from his wrongfully imprisoned mother, he decides to search for the family of the father he has never met to try to save his mother from her unjustly long sentence. Armed with faith, instinctive wits, and the ability to run fast, Kabir escapes danger and meets Rani, a teenage girl from the marginalized Kurava, or Roma, people who is traveling with her parrot. She teaches Kabir, who has a Hindu mother and a Muslim father, about caste dynamics and survival on the streets. She accompanies him to Bengaluru, where Kabir eventually meets his paternal grandparents. Along the way, their experiences reveal the invisibility of low-caste people in Indian society, tensions between neighboring states over water supplies, and the unexpected kindness of helpful strangers. Kabir’s longing for freedom and justice underscores bittersweet twists and turns that resolve in an upbeat conclusion, celebrating his namesake, a saint who sought to unify Muslims and Hindus. Kabir engages readers by voicing his thoughts, vulnerability, and optimism: While his early physical environment was confined within prison walls, his imagination was nourished by stories and songs. This compelling novel develops at a brisk pace, advanced by evocative details and short chapters full of action.
A gritty story filled with hope and idealism. (author's note) (Fiction. 8-12)Pub Date: Sept. 7, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-11247-2
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books
Review Posted Online: June 23, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2021
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