Wednesday, May 23, 2007
ETA: Carol put a really nice picture post together in honor of our dad's 50th birthday :D Head on over to her blog.
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Thanks to the a publicity agent from Sourcebooks, I’ve been asked to review two books published by Sourcebooks Jabberwocky, “an imprint of Sourcebooks Inc.” Thank-you Sourcebooks, for considering me :) My review today is for Marigold and the Feather of Hope, the Journey Begins, by J. H. Sweet. At some later date I will review Dragonfly and the Web of Dreams, also by J. H. Sweet.
Marigold and the Feather of Hope, the Journey Begins, by J. H. Sweet.
A nine year old girl reluctantly goes to visit her aunt for two weeks and discoverers that she’s a fairy. The plot continues with the fairies having a special mission, rescuing the “Feather of Hope” for the Brownies, whose “spirits are most often derived from acorns, pinecones, river stones, mosses, clover, or mushrooms.“ Aunt Evelyn, who is also is Beth’s fairy mentor, tells her that she is still human “and has a soul. But [she] also has a fairy spirit..and a special gift relating to that particular fairly spirit.” The definition given in the book as a fairy is a “delightful, magical spirits with likenesses and kinship to flowers, insects, and other small creatures. Fairies are problem solvers, helpers, fixers, and protectors of nature. They get along well with gnomes and most other living things.”
This book promotes the idea of a pagan, witchcraft centered world, where Mother Nature has created fairy spirits, and gnomes cause all things in the earth to grow. They have special abilities which enable them to go undetected by humans and to practice magic. Their morals are not defined by God, but by the Fairy Handbook, which changes to suit the person reading it.
The fairies meet under a willow tree, because “willow trees inspire communication and creative ideas..” They employ wands and pixie dust to perform magic and the book mentions in several places that animals cannot talk unless they’ve been bewitched. There are several cases where things occur physically as a result of fairy activity - tingling hands, changing eye color, and actual body changes when the human “takes fairy form.” The light emitting from a certain wand is purported as being protection from bad spirits, but what bad spirits are is not elaborated. Broken household appliances are credited to gremlins, who are “nasty earth spirits who are invisible to regular human beings…The gremlins’ sole purpose in life is to break machines, appliances, and other mechanical devices.” Certain household objects, such as anything made out of stainless steel, vacuums, and a certain breed of dogs are purported to be charms against gremlins.
There is nothing in this book resembling a godly, Christ centered mindset. I do not recommend this book.
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Thanks to the a publicity agent from Sourcebooks, I’ve been asked to review two books published by Sourcebooks Jabberwocky, “an imprint of Sourcebooks Inc.” Thank-you Sourcebooks, for considering me :) My review today is for Marigold and the Feather of Hope, the Journey Begins, by J. H. Sweet. At some later date I will review Dragonfly and the Web of Dreams, also by J. H. Sweet.
Marigold and the Feather of Hope, the Journey Begins, by J. H. Sweet.
A nine year old girl reluctantly goes to visit her aunt for two weeks and discoverers that she’s a fairy. The plot continues with the fairies having a special mission, rescuing the “Feather of Hope” for the Brownies, whose “spirits are most often derived from acorns, pinecones, river stones, mosses, clover, or mushrooms.“ Aunt Evelyn, who is also is Beth’s fairy mentor, tells her that she is still human “and has a soul. But [she] also has a fairy spirit..and a special gift relating to that particular fairly spirit.” The definition given in the book as a fairy is a “delightful, magical spirits with likenesses and kinship to flowers, insects, and other small creatures. Fairies are problem solvers, helpers, fixers, and protectors of nature. They get along well with gnomes and most other living things.”
This book promotes the idea of a pagan, witchcraft centered world, where Mother Nature has created fairy spirits, and gnomes cause all things in the earth to grow. They have special abilities which enable them to go undetected by humans and to practice magic. Their morals are not defined by God, but by the Fairy Handbook, which changes to suit the person reading it.
The fairies meet under a willow tree, because “willow trees inspire communication and creative ideas..” They employ wands and pixie dust to perform magic and the book mentions in several places that animals cannot talk unless they’ve been bewitched. There are several cases where things occur physically as a result of fairy activity - tingling hands, changing eye color, and actual body changes when the human “takes fairy form.” The light emitting from a certain wand is purported as being protection from bad spirits, but what bad spirits are is not elaborated. Broken household appliances are credited to gremlins, who are “nasty earth spirits who are invisible to regular human beings…The gremlins’ sole purpose in life is to break machines, appliances, and other mechanical devices.” Certain household objects, such as anything made out of stainless steel, vacuums, and a certain breed of dogs are purported to be charms against gremlins.
There is nothing in this book resembling a godly, Christ centered mindset. I do not recommend this book.
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