Jamie and The Angel: meeting her guardian angel by Carol Guy, A Book Review

Jamie and the Angel is a short little story of understanding.  It brings the reader into the real life situation that many children face, but with a real heartfelt answer.

Many times children see, hear, or know things that adults question, and write off as a fluke, or their imagination, or silly because they don't see, hear, or know the same things.  But the real facts are quite different, and not acknowledging the event or experience as real, even if only to the child, is not only doing them a disservice, it is cruel.  Children have real feelings, and real experiences, just like we all do.  The only difference is they usually don't have the life experiences, knowledge, or emotional maturity to handle things that are out of the norm.  So they look to others to help them.  When they don't get the help needed, they turn to other sorts of explanations and comforts to assure them that they are still okay.  They aren't from outer space; they aren't a freak.

Growing up is hard.  Many adults think children should just know things, saying that it's just common sense.  They should know better.  They shouldn't be ridiculous.  But in reality, that is part of the growing up process.  We learn what we live, and live what we learn.  Parents have to teach their children how to behave, what emotions are what, how to learn well and on the list goes.  If they don't get the feedback they need, they are afraid, tend to be more withdrawn, and feel all alone in the world.

This book explores just that; the feelings of being alone, afraid, unsure, feeling different, and sad.  In this case, the child has a gift she doesn't understand, and has no one to help her with it.  She looks for comfort from the obvious sources, but since they don't understand it either, they actually make things worse.

For this child she has a faith that she leans on in what she thinks is the last hope.  The light in the dark tunnel gives her the understanding she needs, and the comfort she yearns for.

The author not only shows how this child felt and how she was able to resolve it despite the lack of family and friends support, she also gives help to the parents that may have a gifted child.  The guidelines at the end of the book give any parent helpful information to guide their child through the rough patches so they don't have to feel insecure, sad, different, or alone.

It's a wonderful book.  Children and parents with special gifts they don't understand, and even those without special gifts should read this.