The Little Soul and the Sun: A Children's Parable Adapted from Conversations With God (Hardcover)

~ (Author), Frank Riccio (Illustrator) "ONCE UPON NO TIME there was a Little Soul who said to God, "I know who I am!..." (more)
Key Phrases: Little Soul, Friendly Soul

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Neale Donald Walsch's Conversations with God series has enjoyed boundless success, making his dialogue with God accessible to a worldwide audience of adults. The Little Soul and the Sun distills the essential message of the Conversations with God books and sews it into a story that even children can identify with. Frank Riccio's poignant illustrations are the perfect companion to Walsch's parable of a little soul who discovers that it is "the light" but still wants to know how it "feels" to be the light. This proves to be a problem, as God created nothing else but the light. God's solution, with the help of another soul, is to surround the little soul with darkness, so that it can feel what being the light is like. This deceptively simple tale of self-discovery carries such a profound message that adults as well as children will read it over and over, each time learning a little more about who we really are and why we are here on earth. --Brian Patterson

From Publishers Weekly

Though his Conversations with God, Book 1 may be a bestseller, Walsch's attempts to scale down part of that book into a work for children may well leave young readers, and their parents, scratching their heads. In this utterly confusing parable, a little soul discusses at length with God how he can learn to experience who he really is and which "part of special" he wants to be. The little soul decides he wants to be forgiving; thus another little soul soon obliges by offering to do something "not-so-nice," so that the first little soul can experience forgiveness. Amid the cryptic phrasing and the often cumbersome sentence structures, some strong imagery and positive Christian attitudes do come through. Such messages as "everybody is special, each in their own way" and "it is special to be kind; it is special to be creative" are important for all children to hear, regardless of their faith. Unfortunately, some readers may not stick with this story long enough to glean such lessons. Riccio's scene of child-angels in monk-like frocks walking on what appear to be clouds will surely inspire further questions about perceptions of Heaven. Ages 6-10.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4-8
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Hampton Roads Pub Co; illustrated edition edition (April 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1571740872
• ISBN-13: 978-1571740878
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.1 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (72 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #5,731 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gentle, sweet and wonderful!, December 6, 1999

By A Customer

I cannot say enough about this *wonderful* book! It is a book for everyone. I read in a review here that they thought that this book may be difficult for a child to understand. I believe children understand these concepts far easier than we adults do. I love this story and have bought many of them for friends, big and small!

48 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Be Re-Minded of Who You Are, December 18, 2003

By	Janet Boyer "JanetBoyer.com" (Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

When I first read the book Conversations With God a few years ago, I was deeply touched. Much of the insights presented in this unusual conversation were a wonderfully fresh way of seeing All is One and that All is Love. A year or so later, I was browsing the children's section of the bookstore and came upon The Little Soul and the Sun: A Children's Parable Adapted From Conversations With God. I read it right there and it brought tears to my eyes.

Here it is some years later, and I've just bought this delightful book for my son as a Christmas present. This beautiful story is illustrated in lavish pastels by Frank Riccio, and features a parable about Little Soul--one who wants to experience itself as Who I Am. You see, Little Soul knows that it is Light--but feels that knowing isn't enough. So Little Soul asks God if it can actually feel what is means to be the Light. So God asks Little Soul how it can experience the Light when it is already as a candle in the Sun, along with the other billions of souls who make up the brilliance of the Sun? Little Soul entreats God to think of something--some way in which it can experience what it feels like to be Light.

God answers Little Soul "Since you cannot see yourself as the Light when you are in the Light, we'll surround you with darkness." Little Soul asks "What's darkness?" and God replies "It is that which you are not." Little Soul asks God if it will be afraid, but God says "only if you choose to be...there is nothing, really, to be afraid of, unless you decide that there is."

One of the central themes of Conversations With God is that in order for God to experience Itself, It had to be contrasted with something else--something "other". You cannot experience dark without light, up without down, now without then, fast without slow. The purpose of duality is to experience parts of the God-self in all Its glory. In a sense, we are all a part of God, and God exploded into a million Souls to experience Itself.

However, when We made the journey Earthward, We forgot where We came from--and Who we were. Little Soul and God continue the conversation, and talk about how everyone is special in their own way--each manifesting a different part of "special". Some parts of special include kindness, creativity, and patience. Little Soul decides that the part of "special" it wants to experience is the part of special known as forgiveness. A multitude of Souls gather around God and Little Soul to hear this extraordinary conversation, and God sweeps an arm towards them: "There is nothing to forgive" God says. Little Soul could hardly believe what God said. "Everything I have made is perfect. There is not a single soul in all of creation less perfect than you. Look around you."

Little Soul grumbles that this wasn't fun at all! How would it experience itself as One Who Forgives if there was noone to forgive? Just then, Friendly Soul offers to help him, volunteering to come into Little Soul's next lifetime so it can do something for Little Soul to forgive. Little Soul was incredulous, and aks why Friendly Soul, who was such a magnificent Being of perfect Light, would want to become dense and dark--slowing it's vibration in order to do this bad thing for Little Soul to forgive? "Simple", The Friendly Soul replies. "I would do it because I love you." Friendly Soul goes on to explain that both it and Little Soul have been male and femaile, good and bad, victim and villian--All of It. "Thus have we come together, you and I, many times before; each bringing to the other the exact and perfect opportunity to Express and to Experience Who We Really Are."

In being the "bad one" this time around, Friendly Soul will give Little Soul the opportunity to experience itself as One Who Forgives. Friendly Soul becomes serious and confirms that it will have to become dense and dark to do this act--and that both it and Little Soul may forget Who They Were. Friendly Soul asks Little Soul a favor: to remember, in the moment that it strikes and smites Little Soul--doing the worst that it can possibly imagine--that Little Soul will remember Who Friendly Soul Really Is.

An agreement was made, and Little Soul goes forth into a new lifetime, excited to be the Light--and to experience that part of "special" called Forgivness. "...whenever a new soul brought joy or sadness--and especially if it brought sadness--the Little Soul thought of what God had said. 'Always remember', God had smiled, 'I have sent you nothing but angels.'"

My favorite passage of the book, which is the major theme of the New Age, is "And so", God concluded, "when you are surrounded with darkness, do not shake your fist and raise your voice and curse the darkness. Rather, be a Light unto the darkness, and don't be mad about it. Then you will know Who You Really Are, and all others will know, too. Let your Light so shine that everyone will know how special you are!"

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I found enlightenment with The Little Soul and the Sun, May 22, 1999

By A Customer

This highly inteligent book was written for adults who understand the specialness and uniqueness of children and the bright light they show to us. To teach our young ones, we must first understand the story. This book should be read by every ADULT, and lovingly passed on to our children. I've had this book for sometime, and have waited for a grandchild to give it to. But now I feel that I am "hoarding" it. There are so many who need to hear its message! (Guess I'll have to get more copies!)