by John Milor ; illustrated by Cecelia Lopez ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 2020
A colorful and engaging animal tale set in a biblical world.
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A Christian fantasy focuses on the days leading up to the Great Flood.
This elaborate tale features a cast of anthropomorphized animal characters: Judah, a lion; Sophia, a green serpent; Azel, a goat; Lumis, a wolf; and Eloshova, a black sheep. As the story unfolds, they’re all caught up in a vague mystical vision beckoning them across the landscape of a strange Old Testament world full of wonders and perils. They are trying to reach the Mountain of Gathering, where the mysterious call is drawing representatives of all living things on Earth in preparation for the Great Flood and the launching of Noah’s Ark. Milor deftly evokes this little-known world that would have existed in the brief interval between the opening of the book of Genesis and the story of the Great Flood. The conceit is brilliantly elegant in its simplicity, filling in a gap in the traditional biblical narrative with a modern-style, middle-grade adventure featuring vibrant characters, exotic locations, and plenty of exciting plot twists. These elements are guaranteed to hold the interest of young Christian readers already familiar with the famous stories of the Bible. Judah and his friends have distinct and sometimes clashing personalities. They must learn to overcome both their personal differences and the many obstacles Milor puts in their paths as they make their way across a realm the author very inventively imagines from the scant clues provided in the early sections of Genesis.
Each of the work’s chapters is accompanied by a full-color plate by debut illustrator Lopez, the author’s daughter-in-law, and is followed by an intriguing critical gloss by Milor. After a chapter featuring the villain of the piece, Nephram, for instance, the author switches his focus and pitches his commentary straight to his book’s adult readers. “Again and again, Nephram is completely baffled by what he sees concerning Judah and all the animals following him,” he writes. “In a similar way, the people of the world are often mystified by Christians, and either mock their faith, or rally against it.” At another point, when the heroes are temporarily lost, Milor again draws a larger lesson: “By providing a light to our feet, God is walking very close with us, and ensuring we stick by His side, rather than running off into the darkness ahead of Him, to places we are not ready to encounter yet. Every step we take, with the little bit of light that we have, is an active process of seeking.” These annotated sections, set off in a smaller type font, are clearly addressed not to children but to their parents and teachers as a guide to the tale’s many allegorical layers. The combined effect is ultimately winning: Adults will be as captivated by the commentary as children will be by the main story of courageous animals in peril.
A colorful and engaging animal tale set in a biblical world. (Color and black-and-white illustrations)Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2020
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 237
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: April 1, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by Charles Martin ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 4, 2006
Deep schmaltz in the Bible Belt.
Christian-fiction writer Martin (The Dead Don’t Dance, not reviewed) chronicles the personal tragedy of a Georgia heart surgeon.
Five years ago in Atlanta, Reese could not save his beloved wife Emma from heart failure, even though the Harvard-trained surgeon became a physician so that he could find a way to fix his childhood sweetheart’s congenitally faulty ticker. He renounced practicing medicine after her death and now lives in quiet anonymity as a boat mechanic on Lake Burton. Across the lake is Emma’s brother Charlie, who was rendered blind on the same desperate night that Reese fought to revive his wife on their kitchen floor. When Reese helps save the life of a seven-year-old local girl named Annie, who turns out to have irreparable heart damage, he is compassionately drawn into her case. He also grows close to Annie’s attractive Aunt Cindy and gradually comes to recognize that the family needs his expertise as a transplant surgeon. Martin displays some impressive knowledge about medical practice and the workings of the heart, but his Christian message is not exactly subtle. “If anything in this universe reflects the fingerprint of God, it is the human heart,” Reese notes of his medical studies. Emma’s letters (kept in a bank vault) quote Bible verse; Charlie elucidates stories of Jesus’ miracles for young Annie; even the napkins at the local bar, The Well, carry passages from the Gospel of John for the benefit of the biker clientele. Moreover, Martin relentlessly hammers home his sentimentality with nature-specific metaphors involving mating cardinals and crying crickets. (Annie sells crickets as well as lemonade to raise money for her heart surgery.) Reese’s habitual muttering of worldly slogans from Milton and Shakespeare (“I am ashes where once I was fire”) doesn’t much cut the cloying piety, and an over-the-top surgical save leaves the reader feeling positively bruised.
Deep schmaltz in the Bible Belt.Pub Date: April 4, 2006
ISBN: 1-5955-4054-7
Page Count: 320
Publisher: WestBow/Thomas Nelson
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2006
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by C.S. Lewis ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 1, 1942
These letters from some important executive Down Below, to one of the junior devils here on earth, whose job is to corrupt mortals, are witty and written in a breezy style seldom found in religious literature. The author quotes Luther, who said: "The best way to drive out the devil, if he will not yield to texts of Scripture, is to jeer and flout him, for he cannot bear scorn." This the author does most successfully, for by presenting some of our modern and not-so-modern beliefs as emanating from the devil's headquarters, he succeeds in making his reader feel like an ass for ever having believed in such ideas. This kind of presentation gives the author a tremendous advantage over the reader, however, for the more timid reader may feel a sense of guilt after putting down this book. It is a clever book, and for the clever reader, rather than the too-earnest soul.
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1942
ISBN: 0060652934
Page Count: 53
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 17, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1943
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