All Creation Waits - Children's Edition: The Advent Mystery of New Beginnings for Children

by Gayle Boss, Sharon Spitz (Illustrator)

Overview

"Beautiful, beckoning, and brimming with hope and promise, wonder and love!" —Sy Montgomery, New York Times bestselling author of How to Be a Good Creature

From bestselling author Gayle Boss, a stunningly illustrated picture book edition of her beloved Advent book, All Creation Waits. Now young readers too will be caught up in the wonder of 24 woodland animals adapting to the season of dark and cold.

Each day of Advent a different animal shows children its own amazing way to meet the dark and cold. Wood Frog freezes into a frog-shaped cube of ice! For six months Painted Turtle doesn’t breathe! Woodchuck can’t be wakened, even if shaken! With each creature, children hear the refrain: The dark is not an end. It’s a door. It’s the way a new beginning comes.

Here is the ancient truth of Advent enacted in the lives of 24 common woodland animals and culminating in the birth of the Human One who perfectly lived that truth.

Children open the book’s double-page spreads as they would the doors on an Advent calendar—one, and only one, each day. “Animal wonderment” reflection questions at the back of the book help children stay with just one animal, one page spread, each day. In an often chaotic “holiday season,” children learn to slow down and wait with all creation.

Written in lilting poetic lines, children ages 5 to 10 will delight in the sounds of the words as well as the vivid descriptions of animals’ winter lives. They’ll learn the elegant intricacies of creatures as small as honeybees, as large as black bears.

Original watercolor paintings by award-winning artist Sharon Spitz convey the radiance of each creature.

With this beautiful picture book, adults and families who have loved the original edition of All Creation Waits can now welcome younger children into the practice of reflective waiting-with-creation through Advent. Perfect for grounding young ones in the wonder of wild things.

An ECPA 2023 Christmas Bestseller!

Learn more about All Creation Waits—Children's Edition and find free resources at AllCreationWaits.com

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781640608283
Publisher:	Paraclete Press
Publication date:	10/03/2023
Pages:	64
Sales rank:	168,613
Product dimensions:	8.50(w) x 9.50(h) x (d)
Age Range:	5 - 10 Years

About the Author

Gayle Boss writes from West Michigan, where she was born and raised. Her lifelong love of animals and her immersion in spiritual texts and practices have melded in poems and essays that explore how relationships with animals specifically, and an attentive presence in the natural world generally, restore us to our deepest selves. Also the author of Wild Hope: Stories for Lent from the Vanishing, Gayle lives with her husband and Welsh corgi rescue.

"Writing about animals and the human-animal bond is the writing that enthralls me. I’ve found it true, what the thirteenth-century mystic Meister Eckhart said: 'God is equally near in all creatures.' Many human creatures and two corgis have loved me and encouraged my work. Beyond them, the creatures and landscapes of Michigan’s west coast, often wounded, open to me wonder after wonder." — Gayle Boss

Sharon Spitz is an award-winning illustrator and graphic designer currently based between Berlin and Haifa. Graduate with honors from the Department of Visual Communication in The NB Haifa School of Design (B.Des.). In her works, she expresses her love of animals and her interest in environmental issues, drawing inspiration from music, surreal art, and nature. Sharon enjoys experimenting with various techniques and styles.

Editorial Reviews

"In this unique blend of Advent musings on the nature of waiting, fascinating facts about animals and birds, and magnificent artwork depicting creatures in their winter habitats, author Gayle Boss and illustrator Sharon Spitz join forces to develop one theme pointing ahead to the birth of Jesus: 'The dark is not an end. It’s a door. It’s the way a new beginning comes.'" —The Banner

"All Creation Waits is a kind of bestiary set to an Advent tune. Each day, the life of some creature unfurls before our eyes, with an accompanying prose poem that describes the animal’s hibernal activity. Lushly illustrated, each page opens to dream-like portraits of animals in their habitats." —The Living Church

"Saying I loved All Creation Waits is an understatement. It moved me and inspired me. My family will be using it to welcome in Christmas, not just once, but for years to come. As a parent, I love the space the book leaves for my own kids' responses and the prompts that are truly at a child's level. It's a delight and my new go-to recommendation for families." —Meredith Miller, pastor and author of Woven: Nurturing a Faith Your Kids Don't Have to Heal From

"This book is at once gorgeous and glorious, quiet as falling snow, and still as a hibernating animal. It captures the magic and promise of Advent in words and pictures—reminding us, gently but powerfully, of God's love for all His creatures—including us." —Sy Montgomery, National Book Award Finalist and New York Times bestselling author of How to Be a Good Creature

"A gorgeous exploration in words and pictures of animals in winter, life in darkness, beauty in nature, the wonder of the world..." —Deborah Heiligman, author of Charles and Emma: The Darwins’ Leap of Faith, a National Book Award Finalist

"All Creation Waits is an Advent book as exquisite as it is unusual. In a season which often centers on human stories and celebrates the triumph of light, this enthralling book directs our gaze elsewhere: to our animal kin and what they can teach us about stillness, waiting, and the generative power of darkness. Poetic, wise, stunningly illustrated, and rich in mystery, All Creation Waits is an ideal Advent companion for curious children (and grownups too). I can hardly wait to share it with my own family." —Laura Alary, author of Look! A Child's Guide to Advent and Christmas and many other books

From the Publisher