The Unfinished Angel – Welcome!

Jamie’s note: I suggest reading Sharon’s and Jonathan’s messages out loud with your kids/students!

A special welcome just for you from Sharon Creech, author of The Unfinished Angel!

Dear Heal the World Book Club members,

I’m honored that you all will be reading The Unfinished Angel — all at the same time — that gives me chills!

This book is dear to my heart, as it was inspired by my granddaughter, who told her first ‘story’ at age two: “Once upon a time in Spain there was an angel, and the angel was me!  The end.”

I loved that so much and wanted to know more about that angel, but it wasn’t until several years later, when I went to Switzerland and saw an old stone tower that I realized that this is where my angel would live: in Switzerland, not Spain.  

At the time, my husband and I were working at a school there, and we were learning Italian (the language in the south of Switzerland), and sometimes I got words all mixed up, so I had trouble writing until I decided to let the angel talk in that mixed-up way. 

I hope you enjoy the story and have fun with it, too!

Your author,
Sharon Creech

Jonathan’s Welcome for Kids:

“Hi, everyone! I am Jonathan, your Heal the World Book Club Kid Coordinator. I would like to welcome you to the club. I love The Unfinished Angel, and I hope you will too!

Even if you just pick up one piece of litter or say one kind thing today you are helping to heal. So I guess what I am trying to tell you is…go, and heal the world!”

Jamie’s Intro Video for Parents

Welcome, parents! I recommend you watch the short (3 minute) introduction video below about The Unfinished Angel to help you get the most out of the experience with your kids this month.

In it I talk about:

• why I chose this book for the club (00:15)
• the theological perspective of the book (00:48)
• content issues you might want to be aware of (01:20)
• how to use & get the most out of this study guide (02:11)

Just click the picture below or head here for the video clip. Note: You’ll need to enter the password “angel” to get access.

Mentoring/Study Guide for Parents

Click on the image below or head here to download the six page study/mentoring guide for this month’s title!

Extra/Alternate Reading List:

If you want to explore more global books after you finish The Unfinished Angel, or if you need alternate book recommendations for younger or older kids, Jonathan and I chose a few for you.

These all tie in with the themes from The Unfinished Angel–see if you can figure out how!

Ages 4-6:

Ages 6-8:

Ages 8-10:

Ages 10 and up:

Jamie: I think The Unfinished Angel as well as the books in this 10 and up category may still interest young teens (ages 13/14), but see below for a title that can be used for older teens.

Ages 15 and up:

 

Info about Pledges/Donating

Over these three months, we’ll help heal the world as an online community by raising money for Love146, an organization helping to restore children who have been trafficked and exploited.

Parents: If you are wondering how to talk to your kids about trafficking and modern-day slavery, I wrote an entire post on that topic.

My husband Steve serves as CEO of Love146, and in 2013 we traveled as a family to the Philippines as part of our involvement. Back then our Simple Homeschool community generously donated over $10,000 to give the girls in the beautiful Love146 therapeutic Round Home (see photo above) a library of living books and to support their education for a year.

Our Heal the World Book Club pledges will go toward their educational needs for this year as well–and guess what? One of the girls who lives in the Round Home is joining our book club! 

Allow me to introduce you to Malaya*–don’t these photos of her getting started with The Unfinished Angel make your heart happy?!

* Name changed to honor and protect her identity

Here’s how it will work:

You’ve heard of people gathering charity pledges to do sporting events–how about pledges to encourage your kids to read more?!

Participants can ask relatives and friends to participate by donating 1, 5, or 10 cents per page read (or just a flat rate per book). You can track only the three book club titles or go beyond it and track other titles you read during this period too.

Here’s the link where we’ll actually be donating as a community: https://donate.love146.org/bookclub146 

Feel free to pass this link on directly to those who pledge if they’ll be giving $5 or more at a time.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Some of the video clips on the donate page are NOT appropriate for young children; please preview.

If they’re giving less than $5, it would be better if you collect the money from them, combine it with other pledges, and then donate it yourself. This helps to cut down on costly transaction fees on small donations so that more funds will go to Love146.

A template to use as you ask for pledges:

Need a starting point as your kids ask for pledges? Here’s a template to begin with. Use it in emails, texts, as a script, or on Facebook:

“Hi Meme (Friend/Relative’s Name)! This is Trishna (Child’s Name). I wanted you to know that for the next three months I am taking part in the Heal the World Book Club, an online club made up of kids all over the world working together to make it a better place.

Throughout February, March, & April we’ll be reading books to inspire us while also raising money for Love146, an organization helping children who have been freed from slavery (or “children who need a safe home” if your children are younger). Would you please consider pledging $1/book I read (or other amount you want to ask for) toward my efforts? 

At the end of each month I’ll let you know how much I’ve read and you can donate your pledge at this link: https://donate.love146.org/bookclub146  Thank you so much for helping me heal the world!”

Need more ideas? Check out what growing up creative and lovely Lucy did on Instagram! (Remember to tag your own efforts with #healtheworldbookclub so we can follow along.)

Heal the World Book Club Theme Song

Our official Justice Tracker, Elijah, suggested we need a theme song for our club. Being that his mother is a child of the 80s and 90s, this is what we chose 😉 –

Enjoy watching & learning it with your kids–and bookmark it to come back to later:

Upcoming Book Titles for March and April

Several of you have asked me what the upcoming book club titles for March and April will be.

I’m just finalizing those now and will announce them in the next email mid-February, so hold tight until then. (Trust me; they’ll be worth the wait!)

Heal the World Weekly Challenges

Some of you have also asked for practical ideas to help you heal the world as a family. I hope our kids will all realize the truth of this Mother Teresa quote during our book club:

“Little things are indeed little, but to be faithful in little things is a great thing.” ~ Mother Teresa

To that end, the kids and I will issue small challenges (hopefully weekly!) on Instagram for you and yours to take on and then document your efforts to inspire others. Follow me here to make sure you see them!

Enjoy getting started with this beautiful story and we’ll chat soon–grateful to have you joining us.