by Marigold Hunt
I originally bought this book when the advisory board for Mater Amabilis was considering it as an in-print substitute for reading in Advent or Lent. We ended up suggesting a different book, but since I had it, I read it with Second Son this year. I read a weekend ahead, and he read it independently and narrated it to me.
Marigold Hunt, of course, is marvelous. A Book of Angels has a tone similar to A Life of Our Lord for Children, The First Christians, and St. Patrick's Summer. (I somehow missed ever reviewing A Life of Our Lord for Children.) She speaks directly to the reader, a child of heart if not in years, sharing retellings of stories from the Bible and our faith.
There are thirteen chapters, covering basic information on angels, their appearances in the Bible, their role in history, and the hints of their future roles based on the book of Revelation.
Hunt does not follow only a literal reading of the Bible. In the chapter The Beginning of Everything, she writes:
Just what they did, whether it was eating forbidden fruit, like Adam and Eve, or something quite different, we don't know. But we know why they did it. What tempted them was the Devil's promise: "You shall be like gods, knowing good and evil." (p. 17)
Again, the chapter on Job does not assume Job is literally true.
At the beginning he put a conversation between God and the Devil to show how God happened to be so hard on Job. Of course, the Devil doesn't really go up to Heaven and stand among the angels, chatting with God. But poets are allowed to invent things like that. (p. 99)
I think there's one full page illustration for each chapter. My favorite one is that of Gabriel appearing to Mary . Mary's face is just lovely.
This may be my favorite Marigold Hunt book, though it would be a tough competition with St. Patrick's Summer, which Second Son also read this year. It's shorter than St. Patrick and would be appropriate for even younger children. (Mater Amabilis recommends St. Patrick's Summer for Level 2 Year 2, fifth grade.) The focus on angels gave a new perspective on salvation history, from beginning to end.
I have received nothing in exchange for this post. Links to Amazon and Bookshop are affiliate links. I purchased this book.
