Best this month
By Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Writer/director Darren Aronofsky’s film Noah is an imagi- Noah These
Bees Count! In this picture
book by Alison For- mento and illustrated by Sarah Snow, an ele- mentary school class visits a bee farm. They don beekeeper outfits
and see the hives. Then they watch as the bees fly out to collect pollen for their food and, at the same time, pollinate two dandelions, three strawberries, four apple blossoms, and so on up to a count of 10 plants. The chil- dren learn how the bees make honey while they help the plants grow. At the end of this classic is information for parents
Author bio:
to share about bees, including the problem of colony collapse disorder. This book is part of a
The Brussats publish the website www.SpiritualityandPractice. com where you can find more information about the items reviewed in this column.
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www.thelutheran.org
series of counting books, including These Seas Count! and This Tree Counts! (Albert Whitman & Company, www.
albertwhitman.com).
native and thought-provoking interpretation of the story of Noah (Russell Crowe at left) and the flood (Genesis 6-9). It’s a biblical epic such as we have not seen before, with an action-packed story line and stunning visual effects, including a beautiful computer-generated vision of the animals com- ing to the ark. It’s also an intimate drama about a good man, his wife and family, and the challenges they face trying to do right by each other. And it’s a quest film in which the characters ask the big questions: Where is the Creator? What does God want from me? The last part of the film is an example of the process of midrash, a kind of reading between the lines of a story, filling in the gaps in the textual teachings by imagining additional developments in the narrative. On the ark, given the choice between life and death, Noah chooses life. Through this change of heart, the story moves from one about judgment to one about mercy (PG-13—violence, disturbing images, brief suggestive content).
The Book of Forgiving: The Fourfold Path for Healing Ourselves and Our World
Archbishop Desmond Tutu, winner of the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize and former chair of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and his daughter, Mpho Tutu, executive director of the Tutu Institute for Prayer and Pilgrimage in Washing- ton, D.C., believe “there is no one who is irredeemable, no situation that is without hope, and no crime that cannot be forgiven.” The Tutus do a fine job with charts
and summaries on why we need to forgive and what forgiveness is not before they explain their fourfold path of forgiveness: telling the story; naming the hurt; granting forgive-
ness; and renewing or releasing the relationship. Using their experiences and the stories of others, the Tutus end with an affirmation of self-forgiveness. They are following up the publication of this book with a free, 30-day online event, the Tutu Global Forgiveness Chal- lenge. For details, visit
www.forgivenesschallenge.com (HarperOne,
www.harpercollins.com).
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