My Shelf Treasure

Our libraries hold treasures we can only imagine. In shelves and displays, rich stories wait for determined and desperate readers.

As a teacher/reader, I relearned this lesson recently.
Before my spring break began this week, I checked out some books from our school library.  For me, this week did not mean days on a beach with seashells. It meant a week on my couch with books. One of the titles I took home was The Unfinished Angel by Sharon Creech.

The Unfinished Angel by Sharon Creech
Published: September 22, 2009
Publisher: Harper Collins
Pages: 176

I was captivated from the start. (You know a book is good when you've turned 10 pages and haven't looked up once!) That's not an easy task for a book these days, especially because I've read some really awesome titles recently (Wonder, The One and Only Ivan, Mighty Miss Malone).

But Sharon Creech isn't just any author. She's a Newbery Medal winner.

In this book, the narrator is a confused angel who resides in a stone tower and floats around a village in the Swiss Alps. For many years, the angel has been waiting for a mission, until one day, a girl named Zola comes to the village to live. When they meet, Zola is undaunted. The two characters are very unique: Zola is confident and has her own sense of style, and the angel speaks in a quirky language using words like "peoples" and "specialful" and "surprisement".

There isn't much happening in their village. The neighbors live in side-by-side discord,  and days roll by just like previous ones. But Zola notices things the angel doesn't, and suddenly this village isn't the same. With each chapter, the reader (along with the angel) becomes endeared to Zola and her calls to action. Sharon Creech lulls you in word by word, page by page--with syllables that are both melodic and conversational. Here, the angel describes Zola:

"She is called Zola and is skinny like twig-tree, with hair chip-chopped in a startling way. Her eyes--gray with large black poppils in the middle--her eyes are big and round like a cow's. She appears, overall--I don't know how to say--like maybe a fawn who grew up with humans." (p. 8)

The book, for the most part, has a light, enchanting tone to it. I finished it in two sittings! I still had some questions afterward, but that was fine with me. Just like the readers in my class, I don't want the author to explain everything to me. I want some room somewhere for my own explanations.

After I read a children's book, I usually ask myself two questions:
To whom would I recommend this book? (upper elementary)
What will I keep from this book?
Two lessons:
1.) Pay attention to the world around you.
2.) Kindness changes everything. 

I found my treasure in the library. But don't worry. I know there's more than enough for you, too.