God Bless the Gargoyles

"in a long-ago time, when long-ago peoples / were building cathedrals and raising up steeples, / they crafted stone creatures and set them on perches / to guard and protect and watch over churches." And so begins the rhyming text of this beautiful and unexpectedly moving picture-book, in which the gargoyles, their purpose long forgotten by their human creators, find themselves reviled as ugly and demonic. Their resultant grief - "when the gargoyles heard these words that were spoken, / their stony old hearts became crumbled and broken. / then storms rumbled in, and their eyes filled with rain, / and in stillness they stayed, alone and in pain" - is observed by some passing angels, who stop to comfort them, leading them on magical show more nighttime flights. The story concludes with an invocation of God's blessing, particularly for all who are alone or heartbroken - particularly for gargoyles...

Originally published in 1996, and just republished in this 2016 edition, God Bless the Gargoyles is a lovely book, one which possesses a keen sense of morality, but which never allows its narrative to be overwhelmed by any sort of moralizing. A number of important lessons - having compassion for the lonely and outcast; looking beyond external appearances, in judging others - are woven naturally into this tale of lonely and misunderstood creatures, mistreated (as so many beings are) by humanity. I appreciated the fact that there is a religious and spiritual background here - although we are a nation of believers in the US, mainstream children's publishing often makes the religious life of our children invisible - but that the didactic purpose of the book has wider applications. This is also a beautiful book, visually speaking, and I thought the artwork - the deep purples and greens of the nighttime skies, the vibrant colors of the stained glass - perfectly captured the feeling of the text. Recommended to anyone looking for children's books with a more spiritual element, or for stories that emphasize compassion for others. show less

The more I mull over this, the more I like it. What a beautiful concept. Pure fantasy, of course, but it'd sure be nice to believe it. Again, homages to fine art inspired the illustrations, as in [bc:When Cats Dream|450159|When Cats Dream (Orchard Paperbacks)|Dav Pilkey|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174875790s/450159.jpg|438802], and again, it's nothing like his more famous books, e.g.[bc:Kat Kong|1226587|Kat Kong|Dav Pilkey|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1182048400s/1226587.jpg|3225964], but I strongly recommend it to all of picture-books.

Although the book had a very religious tone to me, I really appreciated what I thought the hidden message was. Gargoyles are notoriously "ugly" and "scary" statues that hover over building "protecting" them. Most people feel as though they are ugly, but in the book it puts you into the life of a gargoyle and the magically story of angels taking them on a flight each evening to bless everything and everyone. It is a sweet story that makes you feel good at the end.

A nice story about some sad gargoyles and a group of angels that come to cheer them up. The art is very nicely done and perfectly reflects the tone of the story with moody, dark, calm paintings. Overall it's a sadder tale with a positive message of hope and acceptance. Be prepared to rhyme, and say God a lot. Only religious in the sense that is talks about angels and invokes God.

This is my all time favorite children's picture book.