Glamsters
Name of Book: Glamsters
Author: Elizabeth Cody Kimmel
Illustrator: Jackie Urbanovic
Publisher: Hyperion Books for Children (Hardcover)
IBSN: 978-1-4231-1148-1
Audience: 4 – 7 years
Summary: Two hamsters, Harriett and Patricia, desperately to be adopted. Harriett decides to change her appearance in order to be noticed. Guided by her sister Patricia, Harriett learns to accept herself just the way she is.
Literary Elements at Work: The genre of this book is modern fantasy as the protagonists – two hamsters – can talk and express human emotions. The story is told in first person. Harriett thinks changing her appearance will increase her chances of being adopted. The plot of the book is describing what Harriett does to go from hamster to glamster. The central theme is self-acceptance. The style is light-hearted and comical.
Theological Conversation Partners: Self-acceptance is an issue for children today. Humanity was created in the image of God and God described God’s creation as very good. Calvin describes justification by faith as “the acceptance with which God receives us into his favor as righteous men” (Institutes, 3.11.2/727). Justification consists of the forgiveness of sin and the imputation of Christ’s righteousness. God declares us as righteous through God’s Son, the Mediator. The Holy Spirit unites us to Christ without any effort or merit on our part; our righteousness is a gift from God. With the great benefit of becoming united with Christ, we are engrafted into Christ becoming one body with him (3.1.1/537-538). The Spirit is known as the “spirit of adoption” because as the Spirit draws us to God, God becomes a Father to us (3.1.31/540).
Faith Talk Questions:
- Why is important for people to accept themselves the way God made them?
- Why do we seek acceptance from others?
- Why does God accept us?
This review is written by Union Presbyterian Seminary student Adelaide Barringer
Glamsters by Storypath is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
