With the one year anniversary coming next week, the tragedy of September 11, 2001 brings about many questions and fears left unanswered in regard to our children. I have found a wonderful book that addresses many of these questions and fears. "And God Cried, Too. A Kid's Book of Healing and Hope", by Marc Gellman, is written for children in a way that parents, and their kids, can interact and discuss these questions. Little Mikey is a young "guardian angel-in-training" who has many questions about life and the problems that he faces and that people on earth have to deal with. Each chapter is short and concise and begins with Mikey facing yet another problem where he wonders why or how something has happened to him. Chief angel, Gabe, helps him through the question by answering with comparisons to real life and always giving him encouragement. Now here's what I think I like best about this book: there is a "Things to Think About" at the end of every chapter so that as parents read this to their children, questions to real life problems that arise for each of us can easily be discussed. Furthermore, each of these conclusions end with encouragement and support!
For instance, Chapter Four is called "Pretend Dancing: What can I do when I'm supposed to feel happy, but I don't?" In this chapter Mikey is very sad and he meets many souls who suddenly came up to heaven, that weren't expected to come, on September 11th and there is much crying everywhere. He doesn't want to do anything but cry and feel sad. After two weeks of feeling bad, Gabe finally asks him if he wants to go to the music cloud and listen to music. He tells Gabe that he doesn't want to do anything, that he still feels too sad. Gabe still takes him and when the music sounds fun and lively, Gabe asks him to get up and dance with the other angels who are dancing while waving their arms, their wings and some are even dancing upside down. But Mikey still doesn't feel like dancing. Gabe tells him to pretend to dance which means to dance even though you don't feel like it. So Mikey starts out by just moving side to side, then moving his feet and wings, and before he knows it he is really dancing. He begins to feel better and as he tells Gabe, "I wanted to hide out in my cloud, but I needed to get going again."
Immediately following this part of the chapter is the "Things to Think About" section which brings out that we all have days when we feel great and feel like dancing. And then there are days when we are sad or lonely or afraid. "On those days, we hide and want to be left alone. That's okay for a while, but then we have to get up and get on with our lives." Mr. Gellman says that the best way to get on with living is to begin to do the things that we have to do. And after a while, we will smile, laugh and even dance again. But he recommends not to try dancing upside down.
Marc Gellman has written other children's books, but this may be his best book. It has only l08 pages and some of the fifteen chapters include: "How can I go through life and not get hurt?", "Why doesn't God stop the bad things?", and "What should I say to a sad friend?" This book would be an excellent resource for all families with children in first grade and older.
Sometimes an old folk tale becomes up-dated and more dear to our hearts than the original legend. Mary Pope Osborne has done just that with her new picture book, "New York's Bravest". She has written and dedicated this book to all of the "343 New York City Firefighters who gave their lives to save others on September 11, 2001." This book captures the very essence of the bravery and service that firefighters perform time and time again.
Mose is 8 feet tall with hands as "big as Virginia hams". He is always on the ready whenever there is a fire to put out. When he encounters a large trolley on his way to the fire, he just simply lifts it easily out of the way. When he finds that a baby is still in a fire, he goes straight into the fire and saves the baby, even as his ladder burns and they are both safe. One night, a hotel near the Hudson river is completely engulfed in flames and he continually runs into the fire to save the guests. But, when the day breaks, no one can find Mose. It seems that no one ever saw him again and there was speculation as to where he went. Perhaps he went to the Dakotas, or to help President Lincoln. But one old timer summed it up best. "Mose is right here. He's marchin' with us in our parades...Whenever we save folks, he saves them, too...He's the very spirit of New York City".
The setting is in the 1800's but the theme couldn't be any more up to date that this! The pictures are beautifully painted by Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher. This book is perfect for all ages to enjoy and ponder!