In Joanna the Donkey, author Kenneth E. Metzger tells the story of Jesus’ ride to Nazareth on a donkey from the donkey’s
point of view.
Joanna is a donkey with a hearing problem. She is chosen as the donkey
Jesus rides into Nazareth. When the crowds
line the streets and start shouting, “Hosanna! Hosanna!” she thinks they are
saying “Joanna! Joanna!” After the procession is over and Joanna returns home,
her mother explains to her what the people were really saying and what they really
meant.
At the end of the book, the author includes a section called “Inter-actives
for Parents To Do with Their Children.” This is a list of questions about the
story that parents and children can discuss together.
The pencil illustrations, by Sydney Dziewa are colorful, but they are a
bit cartoonish.
What
I Like: I like
the humor of having a donkey that is hard of hearing. I also like the list of
questions at the end of the story.
What
I Dislike: When
Joanna’s friends her that a King is coming who will need a donkey to ride, each
of them think they will be chosen. When Joanna says, “Maybe he’ll choose me,”
her two friends roll with laughter at the thought of Joanna being the chosen
one. Why would Jesus choose to ride on a lame donkey? But when Joanna is
chosen, and she later tells her friends about her adventure, they don’t even
seem surprised. I wonder why that is?
I also
did not like the layout. Each two-page spread was exactly the same, with an
illustration on the left and the text on the right. There was no variation at
all.
Overall
Rating: Good.
Age
Appeal: 4-8.
Publisher Info: Xulon Press, 2014; ISBN: 9781498413923; paperback, $11.99.
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