From Publishers Weekly
Adopting a silky prose style, Rylant (Give Me Grace, reviewed above) imagines a stopping place between heaven and earth, a village where those who "have taken one step into heaven and hesitated" can stay and "finish their stories." Each chapter opens with a quotation from the American Standard Bible, then introduces a different inhabitant of the Heavenly Village. Only one of Rylant's villagers is there for conventional repentance and forgiveness; missed opportunities are of far greater concern to the other "reluctant spirits." Rylant's pristine language and deeply comforting vision are her strong suits: "A young man will do a terrible thing, and the whole world will hate him and call him evil. But his father and mother will look at him and say, 'I love you.' People on earth forget that God is father and mother. So when [an evil-doer] dies, many people think he will go to hell. But he doesn't. He goes home." Some adults, however, may be bothered by Rylant's casual theology. One character has had a miserable childhood: "This is something God has little control over.... God could not make Violet Rose's parents loving people." Later, God "is not all that troubled" when a child and his dog die, because their suffering is over quickly. But those who don't mind spirituality delivered warm and fuzzy will find this as satisfying and sweet as a cup of cocoa; it will leave readers feeling good. Ages 10-up. (Oct.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
Grade 6 Up-Heavenly Village is peopled with souls not quite ready for heaven. Rylant relates the stories of seven of the Village residents in a series of carefully crafted vignettes that seem to convey the essence of a highly personal spiritual understanding. Her selection of characters seems at least in part dictated by the theology she is constructing. Readers meet a doctor who now spends his time doing nothing but talking with his "patients" (who just know they must have died and gone to heaven if a doctor is actually listening to them). The Village Timekeeper (a bank teller on Earth) never had time for beauty. The Village baker, Violet Rose, "had a very sad childhood. This is always something God has little power over. (And because of this, He sometimes has a lot of explaining to do to the new arrival in heaven)." She was killed by a hit-and-run driver. There is a boy named Harold and his dog, Fortune. Fortune just loves to rescue people and was sent to the Village because he kept trying to rescue angels in heaven who didn't need rescuing. Harold went along because the two are inseparable. Oh, and the man who was driving the car that killed Violet Rose is in the Village also. Adult in both tone and sensibility, the book comes up short as a work of fiction for children. They might enjoy the description of Fortune's well-meant attempts to rescue angels, but there is little else to draw them in. Heartfelt and well-intentioned, this offering is ultimately unsatisfying and muddled.
Elaine Fort Weischedel, Turner Free Library, Randolph, MA Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
