The Unfinished Angel

This novel was about an angel, named Angel, and a little girl named Zola. Angel is not used to people being able to see her. But Zola is something special. She has been able to see Angels ever since her little brother, Jake, was born early and almost died. Zola finds out that there are homeless children living in a barn without families or food. She decides that she must do something, but knows she cannot do it alone. Zola begs Angel to help her find a place for the children to live so Zola can bring them food. Angel lets the children move into her tower and they work together to take care of them. Zola and Angel fight for justice for the children and they end up being successful. The children are able to stay at the new school that Zola’s dad built and receive a great education with a new, loving family.

I chose to read this novel because as a child, I read every Sharon Creech book published. I was obsessed with her as an author. When I came upon this book in the library, I was shocked to see that she had come out with another novel. To be honest, I was a little disappointed with this novel. After remembering how much her stories made an impact in my own life when I was younger, I was hoping this book would do the same. But instead, this book provoked me to question a lot. It discussed some of the harder topics that you could discuss in a classroom like life after death, homelessness, child hunger, and family issues. These social justice issues are brought into a perspective that children can think about and reflect on. Even though this was not one of my favorite Sharon Creech books, I feel that this book was not supposed to be like the rest of her books. I think she wanted to push the limits of what she talked about and wanted to alert her audience of the social injustices that surround us every day. 

The Unfinished Angel

Author: Sharon Creech

Year Published: 2009