To begin, I had my 10 year old daughter read Painting Angels and give me
her thoughts:
It was a good book because it talks about being nice to people you
might not think you would be friends with.
I was able to make connections with my own visit to a monastery.
Some of the nuns reminded me of the nuns that I interacted with when I visited.
It made me really want to find out what was going to happen next.
While I was reading the book I understood what Macrina was feeling and
I was wondering why Sam was doing what he was doing.
I can really relate to Macrina.
While I was reading the book it felt like a short story but it still feels like
it had a lot of detail. I really felt like I could have been there in the story.
I could see the story unfolding in my head.
My thoughts on Painting Angels:
I was immediately drawn to the ease of reading this book. The words are big
and the phrases are small. The story moved at a quick pace and I did not
want to put the book down. I actually finished it in one day! I know that the
character Sam has been introduced in other books in this series. While this
book stands alone, I do feel like I missed some history that could have helped
me understand his character better. That being said, I really want to read the
other Sam and Saucer books! I fell in love with Macrina and her frustrations.
I ended up day dreaming of what it would be like getting to spend my summers
working at a monastery. The style of the story reminded me of The Magic
Treehouse books. I am thankful to have some easier chapter books for my
7-10 year olds to read. The message was easy to understand and written in
an interesting format for a young (and even older) reader. I really hope that
there are more books written about Sam and Macrina, I fell in love with the
characters!
