Cassandra's Angel [Hardcover]

Gina Otto (Author), Trudy Joost (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 4 and up | Grade Level: P and up

Cassandra's Angel is about the stories that we are given from the people in our lives about who they think we are...and then dropping those stories so that we can become who we came here to be.

Editorial Reviews

Review

CASSANDRA'S ANGEL is a beautiful book that will be cherished by children and adults for years. -- Erika Sorocco

This beautifully illustrated book, and the lessons found within its pages, will affect change and inspire parents and children everywhere. -- R. Wilson

This book captivates young minds, it has each of my 4 grandchildren ages 2-6. -- R. Goldman

About the Author

Gina Otto has worked in film production, advertising, and the fashion industry for the past fifteen years. In 1995, she began speaking with teenagers about the importance of self perception and how it is affected by popular culture.

Gina travels throughout the U. helping children, parents and teachers to examine how communication patterns impact our lives and society as a whole.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Ginas Ink; 3 edition (October 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0935699201
• ISBN-13: 978-0935699203
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 8.6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #785,706 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Gina Otto, the award-winning author of Cassandra's Angel, international speaker, producer, social entrepreneur, and children's advocate, is currently pioneering a movement to inspire individuals around the globe with her Change My World Now Initiative. Gina is the Founder and CEO of Gina's Ink, a mission-driven media and entertainment social enterprise designed to create a movement for self-esteem, leadership, and self-acceptance that empowers children around the world.

For twelve years, Gina worked in film, television, and fashion with talented visionaries at Lucasfilm, NBC, CBS, and Viacom. She became disheartened by the damage that mainstream media was having on the hearts, minds and self-perception of American girls.

In an effort to quickly and powerfully reach tween and teen-aged girls with an alternative and truly inspirational message, Gina authored a modern-day fairy tale, Cassandra's Angel. Written to instill the ideas of self-reliance, self-worth, tolerance and self-acceptance early in life, Cassandra's Angel is about the stories that we are given from the people in our lives about who they think we are...and then dropping those stories so that we can become who we came here to be.

For fifteen years, Gina has toured the country and the world speaking to girls and women, using Cassandra's Angel as a vehicle to help ignite the possibility and promise of a brighter future without limitations. At the request of mothers everywhere, Gina has expanded the platform to include boys.

The impact and relevance of the book led to the creation of Gina's Ink, a global media company that introduces mission-driven media and entertainment properties to empower children both domestically and around the world. Cassandra's Angel is the premiere project under the Change My World Now Initiative, including a nationwide 20-city, 20-week bus tour launching in the fall of 2011.

Gina hopes that the story of Cassandra's Angel will help both children and adults recognize that each person has a gift and that life is about finding that gift and bringing it forth. She reminds children, living even in the most desolate circumstances, that they have a bright light within them and when they find that bright light they shine for the world. By approaching this message through a variety of interactive experiences, Gina aims to provide children an opportunity to break free of the pressures that exist in today's society, inspiring a movement of young leaders making an important and lasting impact in the world.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding, July 8, 2002

By 

Huntress Reviews (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cassandra's Angel (Hardcover)

Cassandra's Angel is the touching and inspiring story of a child who truly wants to please - as most children do - but is constantly being given the message that she just can't do anything right.

Cassandra is truly everything that a little girl should be: delightful, beautiful, inquisitive, creative, intelligent, and imaginative. However, Cassandra doesn't know that. She thinks of herself as a child who just can't do anything right, because the adults in her life (who are suppose to know these things) keep sending her that message by the way they speak to her.

When her room needed to be picked up, her mother said that Cassandra was a messy girl. Cassandra stored that message in her mind...she was a messy girl.

When her art teacher told her to paint a picture of a house and a tree with seven red flowers and one yellow bee, she started by painting a magnificent tree that took all the room - none was left for the bee. Her little painting took on a life of its own and colorful images began to flow onto the canvas, as she became lost in her own imagination. Instead of admiring the beauty, talent, and self- statement of Cassandra's painting, her teacher scolded her and said she was incorrigible. Cassandra stored that message in her mind...she was incorrigible.

As this story unfolds Cassandra finds comfort, and learns a special secret about herself, from an unexpected source - her very own Angel! A truly beautiful one too! One who comes complete with everything a little girl thinks of when she thinks of angels: lovely soft wings, a golden crown, and a brilliant wondrous light. And what was the secret? It was the truth - the truth of what Cassandra really was.

This beautifully illustrated book, and the lessons found within its pages, will affect change and inspire parents and children everywhere. Perhaps the next time you speak to your child, you will speak as if the very Angels were listening.

Reviewed by Ruth Wilson

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Compelling Message With Delightful Illustrations, April 21, 2005

By 

Janet Boyer "Author, Blogger, Radio Host" (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cassandra's Angel (Hardcover)

"All of the people who tell stories to you, they each have the truth deep inside of them, too. They have just forgotten it over the years, so now what you hear is their sadness and fears. It isn't their fault, all those stories they tell. They believed the stories they were given as well. Those old kinds of stories create guilt and fear, but today, Cassandra, those old stories stop here." -From the book

Each one of us lives a personal mythology that is created from the stories we have been told as children. These "stories" are the beliefs, attitudes, assumptions, and labels that were bestowed upon us by parents, teachers, and peers. Eventually replacing "you" with "I", we began to believe what others told us about our looks, intelligence, and behavior. Unfortunately, negative and demeaning stories impacted our life and delivered crushing blows to our fragile sense of self-whether we realized it or not.

Written by Gina Otto, Cassandra's Angel is a powerful tale that shows how stories of shame, fear, rejection, and indifference affect a little girl named Cassandra. Through an encounter with an angel that has accompanied her since before birth, Cassandra realizes that she doesn't have to accept the stories she has been told by her scolding mother, uptight teacher, rejecting peers, or the dismissive mayor. Rather, she could choose to believe that she was a bright light in the world-and that no one could change that story! The angel tells her:

"All of those things people have said to you, they are stories, Cassandra-not one of them true. You are never just what they believe you to be. You are even more than you think that you see."

Cassandra's Angel is a compelling book that encourages personal empowerment, self esteem, and the honoring of children. Coupled with the wisdom of author Gina Otto, the vibrant, whimsical, color-saturated images painted by artist Trudy Joost expresses a wide range of emotional experience-including the power of realizing that we can always choose a different story to believe.

Note: This book was a finalist in the Coalition of Visionary Resources, Best Children's Book 2002 and won first place in the Colorado Independent Publishers EVVY Award in the same year.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A truly wondrous and uplifting story, December 15, 2001

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cassandra's Angel (Hardcover)

Cassandra's Angel is a powerful picturebook. Written in lyrical rhyme by Gina Otto and strikingly illustrated by Trudy Joost in full color, it tells the story of Cassandra, a young girl who is constantly being told by adults that she can't do anything right. But after she endures repeated verbal assaults that wear down her spirit, her very own angel visits her and gives her a new perspective on herself and others. Cassandra's Angel is a truly wondrous and uplifting story which is very highly recommended for both children and adults.