Elisabeth's Miracle
A father supports and encourages his daughter after she is bullied, inspiring her to do the same for her classmates, in the warm picture book Elisabeth’s Miracle.
In Vanessa Siso’s educational picture book Elisabeth’s Miracle, a girl is empowered to show kindness to others who have been rejected at school.
Elisabeth loves playing with sock puppets with her friend, Samuel. When their fellow students discover one of her puppets, though, they make fun of her. Elisabeth’s father comforts her and shares a verse of scripture to transform her sorrow into a blessing for others. Afterward, Elisabeth returns to school and shows kindness to her peers who feel alone and rejected.
This is a faith-based book whose central theme is Psalm 139: “I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” The tone of the story is conversational, with teaching moments woven in. Elisabeth converses with her father about the incident at school, for example, and he makes the Bible verse accessible to her, asserting that each person is unique and that those differences are a gift from God. Indeed, Elisabeth’s father models providing support and encouragement to one’s children.
The illustrations feature a diverse group of children and a colorful array of puppets. The purple-and-green color palette draws attention to the trees and flowers featured on each page, while Elisabeth’s purple clothing and her father’s green clothing further emphasize their connection to nature. The illustrations also highlight the children’s facial expressions well: When Elisabeth’s classmates are unkind, the emotions their targets feel are depicted via tears and frowns; when Elisabeth shares her father’s lesson with her peers, they begin to smile. However, the text is dense and often crowds out the illustrations, as with the three elongated illustrations that appear at the climax of the story, two of which include multiple stanzas of text.
Elisabeth’s Miracle is a revelatory picture book about navigating challenging emotions while leaning on one’s faith.
Reviewed by
Paige Soto
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book and paid a small fee to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. Foreword Reviews and Clarion Reviews make no guarantee that the publisher will receive a positive review. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
