Title:  The Wonderful Happens

Author:  Cynthia Rylant

Illustrator:  Coco Dowley

Publisher:  Simon and Schuster

Publication date: 2000

ISBN number: 978-0-689-86355-4

Intended Audience :  Ages 4 and up

Summary of book:   Through poetry the reader is guided to look at everyday things as remarkable.  The book finds the beauty in the creation of things.  The end of the book recognizes that the reader is part of the wonderful things in the world.

Literary elements at work in the book (genre, characters, plot, language, illustrations, dialogue, repetitions, etc.):   This book has a wonderful sense of repetition in the phrases, so that kids can start helping to fill in words.  This book is a gift and allows readers to look at the everyday world around them as a gift and a blessing.

How the book presents gender, race, culture, economic status, abilities/disabilities, age, etc.:

There are only a few people represented in the book.  The people are mostly kids, so there is no deference given to the elderly.  There are a variety of races represented.  Both genders are represented equally.  There is no representation of culture, economic status, or abilities/disabilities.

Theological Conversation Partners:  Genesis 1:1 – 2:3; Psalm 139: 13-14

Faith Talk Questions:

1.  What does the phrase “The Wonderful Happens” mean?

2.  What is your favorite part of the book?

3.  What is something “wonderful that has happened” in your life?

4.  In the Genesis and Psalms passages, who is responsible for the ‘wonderful that happens’? How does God create?

5.  Is it hard to look at yourself as wonderful?  Why or why not?

This review was written by Union Presbyterian Seminary student Jessie Smith.

The Wonderful Happens by Storypath is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.