God Bless the Gargoyles

God Bless the Gargoyles
By Dav Pilkey
Harcourt Brace & Company, 1996

I told myself I wasn't going to do it. This blog would be dedicated to reviews of books teenagers and adults might enjoy, and nothing else. I would NOT review children's books, no matter what the subject matter, no matter how good they were...

Aw, who was I kidding? I have always loved children's books. When I don't have the time or patience to sit down for a full-length novel, I take a quick break with a kid's picture book. There are so many fantastic artists and authors out there who dedicate their lives to creating these miniature works of literature, and I have laughed and cried over many a children's book in my day. Even today I count Rosalie Seidler's Panda Cake, David Shannon's No David!, and Maurice Sendack's Where the Wild Things Are among my favorite books (a list that also includes Life of Pi, Eragon, and Mary Brown's Unicorn Ring books), and Mercer Mayer and Dr. Seuss will always rank up there with Anne McCaffrey and Mercedes Lackey on my favorite authors list.

That said, Dav Pilkey, the creator of the popular Captain Underpants and Ricky Ricotta's Mighty Robot series as well as hilarious stand-alones like The Silly Gooses, Kat Kong, and Dogzilla, has produced a book quite different from his usual style. Rather than slapstick humor and lunacy, God Bless the Gargoyles provides us with a rich and loving fable that both children and adults will enjoy.

Pilkey's beautiful, darkly colorful oil paintings set a somber yet hopeful mood for the story, yet still bear his signature style. His rhyming text tells the story of the gargoyles guarding the European churches and cathedrals... and the cruel people who call them ugly and unfit to decorate the house of the Lord. Broken-hearted, the gargoyles weep... until angels descend to comfort them and take them on a night flight over the human lands, all the while singing blessings upon the poor, the sick, the suffering, the broken-hearted, and all who are unloved and unwanted.

God Bless the Gargoyles is a gentle tale that everyone, regardless of age or religion (or whether or not you like Captain Underpants), will enjoy. It is also a reminder that everyone is deserving of love and compassion, even those we consider undeserving.

Even the gargoyles.