Customer Reviews

From I-ville to You-ville

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Truly great children's literature isn't just for children. How many of us relish Tolkien's The Hobbit or Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia? Well, now there's a new, fresh children's story out there for us, and I can sum it up in one word: "delightful." An allegory in the tradition of Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, Mersine Vigopoulou's From I-ville to You-ville enchants as much as it edifies.

I-ville is a Kingdom ruled by the goddess Conceit, a place where people live by the motto "Me first!" You-ville is a Kingdom ruled by Humility, a place where people put the good of others before their own. This story follows a young boy from I-ville named Stubborn on his journey as he struggles to make the arduous trek to the beautiful, joy-filled You-ville.

In the course of his adventures, Stubborn learns profound lessons in how to conquer bad thoughts and feelings. He learns how to shrink his ego, forgive himself and others, and put others first. He also learns how to pray to and trust in the one true God.

While written by an Orthodox author and based on the teachings of Elder Paisios of Mount Athos, the book will still appeal to Christians of other stripes. In fact, because it isn't even explicitly Christian, it will appeal to folks of almost every major religion. Young or old, we all must take the journey from I-ville to You-ville, and this story is filled with the profound spiritual truths we need to embrace in order to succeed. It's the best-selling Orthodox children's book in Greece, now in its fifth printing, and finally made available in English.

This my be the most important childrens book your family will ever own. It speaks to the heart in a beautiful, humorous, and touching manner. A great book for bedtime stories. The chapters are short, and each contains timeless wisdom that might better sink in overnight. Everyone will see a piece of themselves, in the characters. You will see not only revealing glimpses into your own thought processes, but "simple" solutions to those little sins that plague us all. You will go back to it over and over.

GREAT Book!
I first read it with my 8yr old daughter. Her excitment when she discovered the extra meanings in the book were priceless. The words "Forgive me, I was just living in I Ville for a moment" are common in our house now.

The Parish Council also read the book to help us not be an "I Ville Parish" but a "You Ville Parish". Why not start at the top.

If this book were published by a major publishing house, it would be a New York Times best seller. This book is a must read for all families with young children regardless of your faith or tradition. The engaging story follows the spirtual journey of stuborn who comes from the town of I-ville where the motto of the townspeople and of their queen, Queen Conceit, is "me first, me first." He has a chance meeting with a young girl, Serenity, who comes from a different place called you-ville. This chance meeting affects stuborn deeply, and he is amazed that during their inital brief encounter she spent time listening to him and did not talk about herself or how wonderful she is.
He sets out to discover this mysterious place and gets advice along the way from an old man living in a cave (representing the Elder Pasios, a much beloved modern day monk from Mount Athos whose spiritual teachings form the basis for this book). The journey is not an easy one as it requires Stuborn to shrink his ego and fight against bad and selfhish thoughts.
As a father of two young children, the lessons here for everyday life are enormous and there are teaching points from each of the wonderfully written chapters. Children are naturually drawn to characters such as Serenity, Humility, Magnanimous, Mr. and Mrs. Kindness; and against the old stuborn and Queen Conceit. I can now point out to them when they are behaving like Stuborn or like someone from I-ville and the point really hits home.
What else can I say, I loved this book. It is great for the under 10 crowd and for adults (in fact on a recent visit I made to an Orthodox Monastery, the monks had just finished reading it as a group). Most teenagers will probably find the story too childish and the deeper message difficult to grasp, but perhaps I sell them short. Do not hesitate, get this book for your family.
If you have trouble finding it here, go to the publisher's website at [...] and order it there.

The other two reviews have done a good job of summarizing the book. I would like to add that our whole family enjoyed this book. This book can be given to any Christian denomination, but has very sound Orthodox teachings. The book is best for those who are five and up. The illustrations in the book are nice. The best thing I can say about the book is that my oldest daughter, who will be eight soon, has been a lot more helpful, nice, and caring towards her sisters. Now THAT'S a GOOD BOOK!

This book is amazing. It contains the entire Orthodox belief system in it. What an amazingly simple way of teaching your child the unique wisdom of looking outside the self and discovering a whole new, much more beautiful world, in today's age of self worship. This transformed my 5-year-old entirely. My son always had problems sharing his toys with others, he simply didn't want to. After reading this book he reluctantly agreed to let go of his most beloved toy by giving it to his cousin, who he knew liked it very much. I bought him a more expensive toy to show by example that God will always fill his needs if he is considerate of others.

This is a very nice little book. The text itself was longer than I had expected, and put together with beautiful binding, paper, and illustrations. I read through it today before wrapping it up as a Christmas gift for my little cousin. The story itself is charming, and read like a little fairy tale or fable. Adults and children alike will be moved by this story, as well as educated by it. The premise of the book comes from the teachings of Elder Paisios of Mouth Athos, and a short paragraph about him is included at the end of the book, separate from the story. While the story is written from an Orthodox Christian viewpoint and teaches young readers about faith in God, there is no mention of Christianity or of any specific Church, which makes this a story that can appeal to people across many religious traditions, as another reviewer also mentioned.

I deducted one star only because, in several passages, I noticed language that was either slightly awkward (perhaps the translation from the Greek didn't turn out to be idiomatic in English), or a bit too abstract and didactic- perhaps too much so to capture the attention of readers under the age of 8 or 9.

Thank you to Mersine Vigopoulou (the author) and Ermani Heers (the illustrator) for a book that is truly beautiful in both its outward appearance and the message contained within.

amazing book very wise and interresting I read it by one breath and I suggest it to kids and adults too

An enjoyable and profound reading for both adults and children. I wished an age group for children had been given as a guide: I thought of reading the story to my grand-children, aged 6 and 3, but having now read the book, I feel that it is not suitable for children under 8.

I am looking forward to the French translation, which should appear in May 2012(I am French), and hope that this book will be translated in many languages soon.

I first encountered From I-ville to You-ville while dining with the monks in the trapeza (dining hall) of the Monastery of St. John of San Francisco back in 2007. It is the practice of the monks to read spiritually uplifting books during the meal, and this delightful children's book was selected after they finished a much heavier theological treatise. The monks, and the guests (including me) were delighted at the powerful message of embracing selflessness told so beautifully and simply.

I bought a copy at the monastery bookstore, and brought it home and put it in my bookcase until tonight, more than four years later. Yesterday I finished another book that made reference to this one, so I pulled it out, and we decided to make it our read-aloud entertainment for New Year's Eve. There are no children in our household. Just two aging Christians seeking a deeper walk with God.

We were delighted at this allegory about a boy from I-ville named Stubborn who meets a girl from You-ville named Serenity. She invites him to come visit, which he does. He finds it difficult to get there at first, but he reaches his destination where he undergoes a transformation. When he eventually returns home a year later, he has to face the reaction of those in You-ville to the changes in his life.

Highly recommended for Christians of all persuasions. Children, too.