Pros
- Good use of poetic literature.
- Excellent illustrations done in silhouettes.
- Intriguing and "out-of-the-box" as it makes the reader think.
- Easy read in only about 10 minutes.
Cons
- Perhaps a bit harsh or heavy for a children's book.
Description
- Genre: Children's Poetical Fiction
- Release Date: July 1, 2007
- Author: Gerry Rzeppa
- Publisher: Sunray Publishing
- ISBN: 1-934478-01-6
- Format: Hardback; Unpaged
Book Review - Some of the Parts by Gerry Rzeppa
The book is not paged, but is divided into six parts: The First Part, The Second Part, The Third Part, The Sad Part, The Better Part, and The Future Part.In The First Part, we meet a young boy grieving over the loss of his mother, finding no comfort from his skeptical father who believes that when you die, you just go in the ground, and no longer exist. He remembers how just before his mother died, she imparted words of godly wisdom into his young heart, implanting seeds of faith in his questioning mind. Unfortunately, his unbelieving father did not reinforce his mother's words. He ponders the words he hears about God from the preacher at his mother's funeral and wonders about this great Master.
The Second Part introduces the Master (Jesus the Good Shepherd) who appears outside near a shed and starts to answer the boy's questions.
In The Third Part, the Master shares his bag of tiles. He assembles the tiles and the boy sees a baby boy, although it's not that clear. I believe this image alludes to the pieces of life and how they don't make sense, individually, but do add up, put together for the whole picture of a lifetime. The line, "The forest hides among the trees; Step back young man, Enjoy," shows how we need to step back and see the whole picture when stuck on a puzzling roadblock of our life.
An evil stranger descends upon the tiled infant in The Sad Part, destroying it, crushing it into thousands of pieces. The boy is sad and baffled. Confused, he wonders why the Master couldn't save its life. The stranger seems to represent sin and how Satan comes "to kill, steal, and destroy." (John 10:10-11) On the other hand, it also reminds me of the story of Lazarus' death when Jesus didn't resurrect him immediately, but waited, while his sisters, Mary and Martha were troubled as to why the Master didn't save their brother.
The Better Part—The boy finds the Master in the barn and together they pick up the broken pieces to reconstruct the tiled baby boy. After his restoration, the baby is even more beautiful. It seems to refer to Resurrection Sunday as the boy finds the Master standing by the shed "early Sunday morning."
The Future Part—The young boy again inquires of the Master about his dead mother. This part reinforces the reassurance that even though Jesus departed into the heavens at the ascension, we have the Holy Spirit and are known by him.
I found this short poetical book a good defense against atheism. Personally, this story touched my heart as I recently lost my mother. When I feel alone, I think of her and know that I, too, am never alone because I'm known by God, and that I'm his beloved child. Some of the Parts is a comfort to anyone who's lost a loved one, or to anyone questioning the reality of the afterlife. What's more, Mr. Rzeppa is a skilled storyteller, as well as a poet.
About the Author
Gerry Rzeppa and his wife Sharon were blessed later in life with a baby boy they call Chuckles. Concerned about the world their young toddler will be growing up in, Gerry wrote Some of the Parts to help get out the message of eternal life in Christ to a world that needs to know the truth.Favorite Quote from the Book
"You're never by yourself my son as long as you are known."Venice Kichura is a freelance writer and guest contributor for About.com. Besides writing articles, short stories, and poems, she's a pencil artist who also dabbles in watercolors and acrylics, as well as enjoys needlework, crochet, and knitting. Her main passion is ministering to both Christians and nonbelievers through the printed word. For more information visit Venice's Bio Page.
