The Snow Angel - Book Review

Author: Lauren St. John

First Published: 5 October 2017

Genre: Children's Fiction

For Ages: 12+ (or even a mature 10)

Mature Content: Unspecific gang violence, depression, deaths, talk about alcoholism, talk about violence, talk about racism, mentions not caring about dying, etc.

Questionable Language: Nothing (aside from mild and somewhat understandable disrespect to adults).

God-glorifyingness: 6 1/2/10

Writing: 8 1/2/10

Plot: 8/10

Ease of Reading: 9/10

Overall Rating: 8 1/2/10

The first day I brought it home I was entranced: and now, by round four, it has firmly established itself as an all-time favourite.

(It's going to be hard for me to give a short summary of this book without spoiling anything, but I'll do my best!)

Nominated for the Carnegie Medal, The Snow Angel tells the story of Makena, a determined, sensitive and beauty-loving girl whose life is turned upside down, and, through a series of events, finds herself alone and heartbroken in the slums of Nairobi. I felt that one of the main themes of this book was her learning to trust others again; whether it is Snow, an orphaned albino girl, or Helen, director of Hearts4Africa.

I Love the way Makena is smart, mature, and thoughtful, yet still an extremely relatable 12 year old girl. And the way Lauren St. John portrays grief is very moving - I think it choked me up the first time I read it! The realism of her writing brought be almost to the heart of Africa, and Makena's deep love of Mt. Kenya was infectious. Plus, this is completely my bias, but any book where foxes are given a lead role is already worth a look. 😁 (If you hadn't guessed, they're my favourite animal.)

So, though The Snow Angel is not a specifically Christian book, I feel that its themes are, (in a roundabout way), God-glorifying. The way that Makena learns to see and appreciate the intense love and the simple generosity that often marks the downtrodden of this world is edifying, humbling, and altogether beautiful.

And although there are quite a few dark, scary or tragic moments (it is set in a crime ridden slum!), the book is wholesome. Wholesome but heartbreakingly beautiful. It also surprisingly contains no swearing, blasphemy, or crudeness! (I say surprisingly because it's rare to find a secular book so clean.) There are also a few references to magic or supernatural themes, but I think if readers are aware and keep their own perspectives I really don't think they'd bother anyone. They aren't major and are more about enhancing the storyline - therefore they didn't offend me.

So, to wrap it all up. Although I wish the end goal was Jesus (the author takes a humanistic and .frankly unsatisfying solution to the world's problems in the afterword), I still think it's a great book. I only wish some Christ-focused literature was as well-written!