From Publishers Weekly
Pilkey's (the Dragon books; The Hallo-weiner) exuberant artwork takes on a mystical tone in this inspirational story about the presence of angels. As his occasionally labored rhyming verse posits, gargoyles were originally intended to guard churches against evil spirits, but over the years they came to be seen as "grotesque" and, in response, became "crumbled and broken." Yet, in Pilkey's vision, all was not lost. Passing angels befriended the unhappy statues, and now angels and gargoyles take evening flights together. Velveteen night scenes surpass the text in invoking a magical cosmology. Soft shadows brush turquoise and violet skies, bathing them in moonlight. On nearly every page, vivid stained glass windows interrupt the darkness with lapidary flashes of color. Pilkey imbues these dreamy vistas with electricity, the skin-prickling feeling of witnessing a special event. His angels, chunky females with flowing hair and feathered wings, are shadowy messengers the color of the sky. Under their care, ungainly gargoyles become limber and soar with them through the night. In imagining this incongruous camaraderie, Pilkey draws attention, too, to the human struggle for existence: his angels scatter "songs of rebirth" upon those who wrestle with loneliness, homelessness and grief. His optimistic message is easy to embrace. All ages.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
Grade 1-4-Gargoyles that long ago were "set...on perches to guard and protect and watch over churches" have over time become objects of fear and derision. Now they are sad and full of pain and their "stony old hearts" are broken. But graceful young angels arrive on a stormy night, one for each gargoyle, to comfort them and fly with them over the earth. The angels cast God's blessing on all creatures. Even the grieving, the lonely, and the homeless are shown to have guardian angels to comfort and protect them. This simple story with its dubious message that all is right with the world is told in doggerel-like couplets with a number of forced rhymes. The neatly boxed and bordered poetry, four lines to a page, is imposed on spectacular illustrations. The richly colored, sculptural, textured paintings fill the double-page spreads. Echoes of medieval stained glass, city buildings outlined against brilliantly hued night skies, and lonely streets inspired by Edward Hopper blend in a sequence of dramatic pictures through which the gargoyles and their attendants continuously fly. Gargoyles and angels are popular icons and will certainly attract notice, but Pilkey's trivialized, sentimental story does not equal the high quality of the illustrations.
Shirley Wilton, Ocean County College, Toms River, NJCopyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
