That is, his spiritual powers were acute enough to be able to peer through small breaks in the firmament of reality to the glorious wonder of the cosmos that enrapture us all. With a constant feel for his readers, Funk cogently leads us through the plausibilities and implausibilities of traditional Christian teachings, taking the fundaments of faith back to the rigors of their historical roots. Well, a baby could tell you. But the transformation that the boy undergoes from his time in the cave and the sentence he must bear thereafter draw on the power of myth and redemption, themes far elevated above the playpen. Based on traditional Mexican myths, Uncle Snake posits a distinctly unscientific notion of where lightning comes from, and does so in a poetic and challenging text, with drawings so beautiful that they were recently honored by the Society of Illustrators in New York.
Girls think for themselves.
Traveling from England to New Jersey in 1704 to marry a man she had never met, Leeds integrated herself into the burgeoning Quaker community, established herself as a healer of extraordinary powers, and comfortably bore and raised 12 children. Meticulously researched, Brigid's Charge follows the wiccan path along its rocky road. Drawn away from home one day following the flight of a honeybee, Bernie becomes lost and stung, is found and comforted. That is all that happens in Santa Rosan Verna Larson's story, and there are read-aloud times, when a child is drowsy and pajama'd, leaning with a head damp from a hot bath next to one, that not much more needs to happen. Deceptively simple yet pleasingly lyrical, London's stories are usually grounded in a deep love and respect for the natural world.