God speaks in an irreverent voice
Church goers will have heard the word of God during the recent Christmas season, but it’s doubtful He spoke to them in quite the same way as he addresses young readers in the following titles:
Coaltown Jesus (Candlewick Press, 122 pages, $19), by Ron Koertge, is the kind of book every reviewer eagerly awaits: a volume that sets itself apart from others and ends up being the one we buy for our friends and pass on to any teen willing to give it a try. Written in a free-verse format, it tells the story of 14-year-old Walker, who lives with his mother above the nursing home she operates. He is trying to come to terms with the recent death of his older brother and the grief it caused his mom. In a moment of true despair, Walker calls on God to come to her aid — and damned if He doesn’t!
Dressed in the ubiquitous robe and sandals, Jesus materializes in the room Walker used to share with his brother and apologizes for being late: “I would have been here sooner, / but traffic on I-55 was awful.”
Wry wit and irreverence mark the dialogue Koertge attributes to Jesus, together with some mortal traits. (Jesus admires Walker’s hair and displays a streak of vanity about His own hirsuteness: “I’d hate to be bald. The Laughing / Buddha can get away with it. He’s roly-poly. / Not me ... .”) And when he and Walker decide to watch a pickup basketball game, Jesus decides to “get into the spirit of things” by swapping his sandals for a pair of red sneakers.
The slim volume is an easy read, but one you’ll return to many times because, despite its lighthearted approach, it is a memorable, thoughtprovoking book that delivers not only laughs, but wisdom and the occasional tear. Best for age 12 and up. Ten years ago, Cynthia Rylant gave us God Went to Beauty School, a series of wonderful poems that also presented God in a very human, approachable form — albeit all-knowing and allpowerful. A god who, among other things, opens a shop called Nails by Jim (He’s afraid to call it Nails by God because people might think He’s being disrespectful); goes Rollerblading; buys a couch from Pottery Barn; gets a dog; writes a book (“No, not that one”); catches a cold; and writes a fan letter to a country singer.
I’ve always wondered why that book is one of the Newbery medallist’s lesser-known works, and am happy to see that many of the poems were recently reissued in picturebook format. God Got a Dog (Beach Lane Books, 40 pages, $19.99), illustrated by Marla Frazee, features handlettered texts and is best for age nine and up. The poems are presented in a different sequence than the earlier publication, and in several cases God’s gender has changed from male to female. Whether that’s for reasons of political correctness or to allow for Frazee’s customary all-inclusive approach to depicting characters is debatable.