Pele'Yah [Paperback]

Bob Macdonald (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 24 pages
• Publisher: Trafford (October 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1412006368
• ISBN-13: 978-1412006361
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 8.1 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,434,687 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A book that requires some work to read., February 15, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Pele'Yah (Paperback)

Some find Pele'yah difficult to read. It isn't. But it does take some thought to hear, to see, and to feel the impact. Have you ever been so distressed that you felt like falling down? That you caught yourself in agony, perhaps in prayer too?

There is nothing written in the book that is confusing to me - but I realize that clues must be in the text - and I think they are, as much as they are in the Biblical text. Biblical reading for children should deal with their reality - life, curiosity, death, fear, desire, security, and determination.

Some wrote that "the largest and most confusing issue was the way the three stories combined - Christ, Pele'yah and Tsame's family. It seemed that the title character was relegated to the sidelines. If the story is about the narrator's (and her mother's) search for legitimacy, then the donkey becomes incidental. If it was the donkey's experience that was central to the theme, then Tsame and her mother are unnecessary." (The author did not use the word Christ in the story, only names around the Hebrew and Greek forms of Jesus.)

The title character is at the sidelines on the last page, but I don't think he is before then. Tsame never met Jesus - so she learns through the donkey's silent speech, much as some I know learn love from their pets. Tsame and Mayim's story is crucial - it is their longing for the presence of God that Pele'yah had taken for granted all his life.

Some more of the story is on the web with a reader's explanation. (See the reader's guide at http://peleyah.ca.) I have seen children sit still for 45 minutes with one reading - they are captivated even when alone and sick as one was on the plane - his name, Jacob Waters, allowed him into the story since Jacob and Waters are both there to begin with. If your goal is to draw your young reader into Biblical study through an enticing story, Pele'yah: A Wonder of God will allow you to read with more historical context, more cultic context, more understanding of the fire of love that we so desperately need for our wholeness.