Amelia Airheart Butterfly and Orville Wright Butterfly are going camping. Their tiny friend, Antrew Ant, wants to go, but Orville tells him he's not old enough. Despite this, Antrew sneaks into Orville's backpack and stows away.
As Orville and Amelia fly to their campsite, Antrew peeks out of the pack. The pack unbuckles and flies open, but an angel pushes Antrew back in and closes the flap.
When the butterflies reach their camp, they discover little Antrew, and chastise him for stowing away. Orville states they'll set up camp, but then he's taking Antrew back home.
Antrew has other plan and wanders into the forest. He nearly falls off a rock while crossing a river, but feels himself being pulled back onto the rock. Then he gets lost.
Amelia and Orville discover their friend is missing, and pray God will give them guidance to locate him in the vastness of the forest. They look around, and Amelia spots Antrew's "belly bear" across the river. They head that direction, then Orville hears the prompting of a messenger, sending them deeper into the forest.
They find their little friend and thank the Lord for the angels guiding them. And Antrew gets to spend the night camping.
What I Like: Angels can be a tough topic to explain to kids, but I felt this book did a good job showing how angels protect us. The illustrations show ghostly figures of angels doing various things--poking Antrew back into the backpack, putting him back on the rock, pointing Orville and Amelia in the right direction.
I also liked how the author let Antrew do things he knew were wrong--stowing away, wandering off--and showed how you could get into trouble by doing these things.
The fact the characters spent a lot of time in prayer throughout the day was also nice--it shows kids how to keep prayer a constant in their lives, even though it wasn't the heavy emphasis of the book.
What I Dislike: The only thing I really didn't like was how little Antrew's parents weren't shown. Surely, they would have been distressed when he didn't return home? Even though this is a young child's book, I think this could have added another layer to the story that would have shown a child how wandering off would affect others, and not just friends.
Overall Rating: Very good.
Age Appeal: 4 - 8
Publisher Info: Donna Perugini Books, 1987; ISBN: 978-0-88144-536-7; Paperback, 32 pgs., $9.99
Buy it at Amazon.com for $9.99.
Special Info: We've also reviewed other books by Donna Perugini. You can find them here.
3 comments:
Liberty,
I appreciate what you put in as a dislike. It's something I can take into consideration for future children's books.
You did a fantastic job of reviewing the book. I agree, it's tough getting the point across about angels to children.
The book was written to introduce children to the existence of angels, prayer and a child-like innocence in wandering away that ends up distressing Antrew's friends and putting Antrew in danger. You've nailed it in your review!
People are invited to come and download freebies on my blog that go with the book.
Thanks again, Liberty!
Donna Perugini
Oh, I forgot to tell you the price of the book has been reduced to $7.99! Sorry it was not put into the first comment!
Thanks, Donna. I'm glad my review could help you in the future!
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