Who Counts?: 100 Sheep, 10 Coins, and 2 Sons

Product Description Oh, no! The man is missing his sheep! The woman is missing her coin! The father is missing his son! Can you help them find what they are looking for? Who Counts? is a creative retelling of three popular parables: the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the prodigal son. As young readers count to help the characters find what's missing, Who Counts? teaches that every one of us counts in God's eyes and that everyone should feel counted. The stories are beautifully illustrated with modern-day characters and a diversity of ethnicities so that all children will be able to see themselves in the stories. Who Counts? is featured on the Junior Library Guild Fall 2017 list. From School Library Journal K-Gr 2—Three of Jesus's parables from the New Testament are retold here with a secular twist. Each parable is about something or someone lost: a sheep, a coin, and a son. In scripture, human repentance and God's forgiveness are integral to these stories; however, repentance and forgiveness are not mentioned in the sheep or coin parable, and references to God and Jesus are omitted overall. A note to teachers and parents in the back of the book reads, "Our presentation of these parables does not intend to erase the focus on repenting and forgiving. Rather, we seek to add a new understanding based on what we imagine Jesus' original audiences would have heard." The strongest story is that of the prodigal son, and the weakest is the one about the lost coin (when the woman finds her lost coin, she puts it back with her "coin collection," making it look as if the coins did not represent her life savings, but only a hobby). The narratives are light and conversational in tone. Some passages have a storyteller's cadence. For example, when the shepherd goes to look for his lost sheep, "he looked to the right. Nothing. He walked and listened. Still nothing. Then he heard it: a bleating sound." Meganck's use of color and soft lines is similar to Tomie dePaola's style. VERDICT An uneven presentation, unlikely to circulate well.—Jennifer Prince, Buncombe County Public Libraries, NC Review "Levine and Sasso's simple prose, set alongside Margaux Meganck's culturally-sensitive illustrations, creates an expansive vision in which everybody counts." —The Christian Century "Three well-known parables from the New Testament Gospel of Luke come together in a remarkable way in Who Counts? 100 Sheep, 10 Coins, and 2 Sons, by biblical scholar Amy-Jill Levine and Sandy Eisenberg Sasso." —Foreword Reviews "Levine and Sasso present contemporary retellings of the three biblical parables with numerical themes: the good shepherd, lost coin, and prodigal son. All three stories are true to their biblical roots, but Meganck's handsome paintings of diverse characters and present-day settings may help readers find greater connections to their messages about value, faithfulness, and appreciation." —Publishers Weekly "An unusual and creative interpretation of the three parables, offering the satisfying conclusion that each person (or sheep or coin) matters and should be counted." —Kirkus Reviews About the Author Amy-Jill Levine, the author of numerous acclaimed books, is University Professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies, Mary Jane Werthan Professor of Jewish Studies, and Professor of New Testament Studies at Vanderbilt Divinity School and College of Arts and Science. Who Counts? and The Marvelous Mustard Seed, her first two children's books cowritten with Sandy Eisenberg Sasso, were named Junior Library Guild Selections.^ Sandy Eisenberg Sasso is the Director of Religion, Spirituality and the Arts Initiative at Indiana University–Purdue University at Indianapolis (IUPUI) Arts and Humanities Institute, as well as Rabbi Emerita of Congregation Beth-El Zedeck. Her many children’s books include the Who Counts? 100 Sheep, 10 Coins, and 2 Sons and The Marvelous Mustard Seed, cowritten with Amy-Jill Levine and named Junior Library Guild selectio