I discovered this gem of a book on the New Books shelf at the library and decided to take a chance. Then, lo and behold, it got nominated for the Cybil Award for Middle Grade Fiction, an award for which I just happen to be on the nominating committee. I don’t know if Leap of Faith will make the finalist list for the Cybil Award or not, but it is one of the best books for children about faith and Christianity and religion that I’ve read —ever.

You can probably name several children’s and young adult books that mention God and faith and Christianity. And, of course, if you’re a Christian kid there are several preaching-to-the-choir choices available at the Christian bookstore, fiction that attempts to convert or to encourage the already converted. But how many children’s books can you name that are actually about the process of coming to faith, without being preachy or proselytizing? There’s The Bronze Bow, Newbery Award winning historical fiction by Elizabeth Speare from fifty years ago. What else?

Leap of Faith is about Abigail, a sixth grade girl from a non-religious family who’s forced to attend a Catholic school. She’s “forced” because she’s been expeled from the local public school —for attacking a boy with a knife in the school cafeteria. It doesn’t help matters that the boy Abigail knifed was the son of the public school’s principal. Nor does Abigail’s anger dissipate easily when her parents refuse to discuss the reason that she used a knife and act as if they don’t really believe that she was defending herself. (The book is a bit like Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak, although not quite as dark or as mature in theme.)

As the story progresses, Abigail decides to get her parents’ attention by doing something completely outrageous, becoming a Catholic. She doesn’t really believe any of that God stuff, but she’s not sure why her lack of faith should be an obstacle to her saying the words and doing what’s necessary to shock her parents into seeing her and listening to what she says. Abigail’s just tired of being invisible in her home.

She also becomes involved in drama class at her new school, and despite her intentions to remain invisible at school, she makes friends, especially one friend Chris, who’s really Catholic and good at drama and just easy to be around. As Abigail grows and learns to deal with her anger, she unexpected discovers that she has a gift for acting. And she discovers some other unexpected things about herself, too.

Again, this is a great book about a hard subject to get right. God, especially Christianity and God, is almost a taboo subject in children’s literature. It’s OK to mention prayer or going to church or questions about God and the Bible. But to write an entire book about a girl who pretends to become a Christian and then surprises herself by actually believing . . . well, that’s ground-breaking, as far as I’m concerned. And I commend Ms. Bradley for her guts and her excellent writing.

By the way, I’m not Catholic, but I am Christian. I think non-Catholics and non-Christians and Catholics and anyone with an open mind would enjoy reading Leap of Faith.

Other bloggers:

Miss Erin: “One of my favorite things about Cybils is the opportunity to read a book that I probably wouldn’t have picked up otherwise; particularly when I end up really liking it. Leap of Faith was one of those, and I’m happy I had the chance to discover it.”

I’m really not an animal person. I don’t much like animals, and I don’t really own any. (My kids have a cat that’s supposed to stay outside, but that’s another story.) I never went through the junior high love of horses phase nor the phase that all my friends went through when they wanted to go to Texas A&M and become veterinarians. I haven’t ever read a single Marguerite Henry book all the way through.

However, I really, really enjoyed Pam Munoz Ryan’s new book, Paint the Wind, billed as “a breathtaking horse story in the enduring tradition of Marguerite Henry.” The story is told mostly from the point of view of Maya, an orphan whose parents died in a car accident and who lives with her insanely over-protective paternal grandmother. When Maya’s grandmother dies, Maya goes to live with her mother’s family, a family that Grandmother has always warned Maya to avoid because they “live with animals. Like animals.”

But, of course, it’s time for Maya to make her own way and come to terms with her mother’s family, a family of ranchers in Wyoming, and decide for herself whether she’s suited for the freedom and wide open spaces of the West.

Aunt Vi leaned back on her elbows, and her eyes turned wistful, like when she sang around the campfire.
‘Look around. Out here in all this bigness, every single thing matters and stands out. When the horses run against the wind with their manes and tails flying, I think they look like fleeting brushstrokes of color. I consider them the artists on this enormous outdoor canvas, making it more beautiful.'”

That description reminded me of West Texas where I grew up. Maybe that’s a part of my fondness for this story, but it’s only a part. Ms. Ryan does do a fine job of describing and placing the reader in the “bigness” of Wyoming ranching country. Here’s another example:

Maya . . . slowly turned in a circle and looked up at an endless and cavernous sky. There was far more heaven above her than there was earth below, and the horizon seemed worlds away. Without a white wall to define her boundaries, how would she ever know when she disappeared from someone’s view?”

I like that thought because I’ve felt the opposite. When I first came to Houston, I felt trapped and enclosed by all the trees. Even in the town in West Texas, it’s fairly easy to find a place where you can see the horizon stretching out in a long line in front of you, but here there is no horizon, just more and more trees. Too many boundaries. I’ve become accustomed to it for the most part, but I still feel a wonderful sense of freedom and limitless possibility when I drive out to West Texas and see the horizon out in the distance.

Paint the Wind is a book about boundaries and about freedom, about wild horses and the dangers and the advantages of running free. Aunt Vi tells Maya not to let the sky “swallow you up.” But she also advises Maya that some horses, at least, are better off in the wild even though it’s perilous and the horses are exposed to predators and to the whims of men who sometimes capture the wild horses in what’s called a “gather.” Interspersed throughout the book are several short chapters that are told from the point of view of Artemesia, lead mare of a wild horse band whose fate becomes intertwined with Maya’s.

Maya travels from sterile safety to adventure and excitement as the story progresses, and she grows from a spoiled, over-protected girl into a confident young lady. I found the story, the setting, and the characters intriguing and beautifully realized.

Paint the Wind is one of the nominees for the Cybil Award for Middle Grade Fiction.

Other bloggers reviews:

Miss Yingling didn’t much care for Paint the Wind.

Camille at Book Moot, however, says “the book will have great appeal for those same horse loving book readers.”

Franki at A Year of Reading: “I always read for character–plot is secondary to me as a reader-and Maya will stay with me for a very, very long time.”