Sharon Creech

I don't know how many times I've read this book. Dozens. I have listened to the audiobook so many times too. This is a story that has always devastated me at the end, although it's also got a beautiful hopefulness to it. It's hard to remember the first time I read it, having read it so many times, but I don't think I figured out the ending before I got there. Of course, I was probably around 12 when I read it the first time... but I guess I just believed what I was told in the story and show more didn't think something else might be going on. The multiple levels of the story (Sal's, Phoebe's, and Sal's grandparents') have affected me differently at different times. It's interesting to have a book I've read across so much of my life and how the point I'm at in my life changes my focus, but no matter what the story always moves me. show less

As Jack tells us in his writing journal on the first day of his class' poetry unit: "I don't want to/because boys/don't write poetry./Girls do./I tried./Can't do it./Brain's empty." But as hard as he resists the idea, poetry begins to seep into that empty brain. Sharon Creech has managed to portray a teacher's challenge in teaching poetry to a young boy by telling the story of his struggles with the genre through the death of his dog and his admiration of a fellow writer. Written with heart, show more Creech inspires through Jack that you can find your voice, you can unleash new creative ideas and skills that are buried deep inside of you and best of all you can have great fun doing it. show less

There are so few books that have touched me deeply enough that I couldn't imagine my life without having read them: The Alchemist, The Little Prince, The Graveyard Book. And now, I add to that list The Unfinished Angel by Sharon Creech.

The story is simple. It goes like this: an angel lives in a tower in a small village in the Swiss Alps. This angel, he isn't sure what his purpose is. "Me, I am an angel. I am supposed to be having all the words in all the languages, but I am not. Many are show more missing. I am also not having a special assignment. I think I did not get all the training. . . . Do the other angels know what they are doing? Am I the only confused one? Maybe I am unfinished, an unfinished angel."

This angel watches over the people of this little village, and then one day, an American family comes to live in the house attached to his tower. Zola, a young girl vibrant with life and colors—she wears three different colored skirts and numerous bright ribbons at the same time—meets angel and actually sees him. Thus begins an unlikely friendship between a vivacious girl and a grumpy angel.

Though the events of the story are ordinary, there is an uncommon grace and elegance to the prose, even with an angel narrator that cannot speak English properly and often fuses words. ("Zola smills, smuggles, what is the word? What is it, that word for happy teeth??") But more than that, the beauty of the story outshines any I have read in a long while.

Through often misguided efforts, angel watches over his town and his "peoples." By the end of the book, angel realizes he has a purpose, and we recognize the goodness that there is in the world and the hearts of the people who populate it.

"I am feeling most hopeful watching these peoples. I don't know what to say about this feeling. I don't eat food, but if I did, maybe it is as if I were hungry, so hungry, and I didn't even know it, and then I found a mountain of food and I ate and ate, and then I sat back contentful and there was still more mountain for the next day and the next day. Maybe it is like that. I don't know. Since I don't eat food, it is hard to say."

After reading this striking story, I am feeling contentful as well.

In conclusion, this mesmerizing story is one that will become a classic, and I would not be too far off in saying I see this as a strong contender for the Newberry. Every child, every adult should become friends with this unfinished angel and let him help you become more of a finished person.

P.S. I have serious issues with the book's cover design. Had I not read a review of the book previous to buying it, I would most likely have passed it over. show less

To Zinny Taylor, life is like trying to untangle spaghetti—she needs to escape the chaos of her family. So when she finds a long-forgotten trail in the wild woods near her home, she resolves to follow it. It's a journey that leads her to unravel the dark secrets of her aunt's life—and her own. And while Zinny chases ghosts in the woods, gorgeous Jake Boone is determined to chase her...