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TWELVE-YEAR-OLD Crystal Beyea’s life seemed at a standstill four years ago. “She was extremely shy and suffered a lot from asthma,” her mother, Cindy Beyea, said. But that changed when Crystal read, Make Beliefs, a book that its author, Bill Zimmerman, says is intended to spark their imagination and “help people find their own magic Mrs. Beyea said, “I gave it to Crystal and she immediately began answering the question-and-answer format that encourages the reader to imagine and let the child within come out.” The exercise “made me feel that I was kind of special,” said Crystal, whose family lives in Readington Township, N.J. Today, she writes weekly articles in The Hunterdon County Democrat, based in nearby Flemington, on topics like posture, AIDS, lightup sneakers and the 911 emergency system. She says she hopes to inspire families in her rural New Jersey bedroom community about 60 miles southwest of New York. Fourteen-year-old Richard Belva of Dix Hills, L.I., who hopes to be a doctor or writer, said that another book, Where Does God Live? Questions and Answers for Parents and Children (Triumph Books, 1991), has helped him to cope with life’s problems. It was extremely helpful at the time of the death of his grandparents, he said. The book is by Rabbi Marc Gellman and Msgr. Thomas Hartman, the hosts of television and radio’s “God Squad” segments. “I was very upset,” Richard said, recalling his feelings at that time. “My mom got me the book. It helped me to understand why my grandparents died.” Richard met Rabbi Gellman at the temple his parents attend. “The rabbi told me to remember the good memories of them,” Richard said. Just 10 years ago, children’s books with such overt religious, biblical or spiritual themes would never have been published, let alone acknowledged as best sellers. But in the last two years, sales of these kinds of books have shown the fastest growth of any book category. ”Publishers and the buying public discovered a fresh interest in things spiritual, a desire to belong to something large and meaningful,” said Miriam Pollack, the owner of Choices, New York’s largest shop devoted to books on recovery programs, at 220 East 78th Street. The Tennessee-based Ingram Book Company, the book distributor, has experienced most of that growth. “Sales of spiritual and religious books for kids rose almost 10 percent,” said David Troutman, a manager for religious marketing at Ingram. “Some of our religious titles jumped from 25 percent to 105 percent over last year’s figures. Barnes & Noble has experienced “a solid 10 percent growth so far” this year in the number of titles and the numbers of books sold in those categories, said Lisa Herling, a spokeswoman for the company. This increase in sales is being generated by parents and grandparents, Ms. Pollack said. Patricia Klein, a senior editor at HarperCollins in San Francisco who was a former religion buyer at Waldenbooks, agreed. “With the recent growth of adult religion books,” she said, “parents are rediscovering their own spirituality, becoming more comfortable with spiritual exploration, and In many cases returning to formal worship services.” ”Baby boomers’ children watched their grandparents go to church or become involved in some spiritual endeavor,” said Robert Winthrow, a sociologist and director of the Center for the Study of American Religion at Princeton University. “This stimulated many children to ask their parents about God and their religious affiliation.” He points out that in the 1970’s and 80’s, baby boomers moved away from their own parents’ religions. Today, the very same people are searching for spiritual answers and are much less concerned about which religious denomination these answers come from. . “They discovered that something was missing in their lives and that their children have a natural curiosity about spirituality,” said Dr. David Heller, a clinical psychologist at the Institute for Psychotherapy in Boston. “They didn’t like the values portrayed on TV. They didn’t like the computerization of America. The materialism of the 80’s went too far, so today parents and grandparents are pursuing spirituality for their kids, including looking toward literature for help and guidance.” Based on her experiences with Make Beliefs (Bantam Books, 1992), Crystal and some friends created their own newspaper at home. At the same time, she read several other books by Mr. Zimmerman, including, Lifelines: A Book of Hope” (Guarionex, 1990), which suggests that the reader use humor and faith to get- through life’s rough spots. ”Death is very frightening,” said Crystal, a seventh-grader. “A friend of mine recently died of AIDS. This book helped me deal with his loss. It renewed my faith in God.” Crystal began writing for The Democrat in 1991. She credits Mr. Zimmerman’s, How to Tape Instant Oral Biographies (Guarionex Press, 1992) with helping her develop interviewing skills that she uses for her articles. Despite her asthmatic condition, she joined the Y.M.C.A, gymnastic team. “These books helped me find myself and develop my self-confidence,” Crystal said.
Amy Peluso, 17, a senior at Minisink High School in Orange County, N.Y.,
said she found her Roman Catholic faith challenged when her uncle died in
August from AIDS. Reading spiritual books helped her to overcome her
misgivings about his death, she said. “It isn’t fair that someone dies that
you’re very close to. I asked myself, why does God put holes in the world
like this. I tried to renew my faith and my religion.” Dr. David Heller, author of The Kid’s Book or Prayers About All Sorts of Things (St. Paul’s Books and Media, 1995) and Angels Get Their Wings By Helping Little Angels Like Me (Kensington Books, 1995), has said, ‘ ‘Children have a deep need to always find God.” Dr. Heller is a clinical psychologist at the Boston Institute for Psychotherapy who has spent years studying spirituality among children.
Phyllis A. Tickle, author of Rediscovering The Sacred: Spirituality In
America (Crossroad Publishing, 1995), says 12-step programs, like
those used in Alcoholics Anonymous, “have made it socially acceptable to
share who you were inside.” Ms. Tickle is religion editor at Publishers
Weekly, the trade publication. She said that the Korean and Vietnam wars
exposed thousands of American fighting men and women to the rich spiritual
philosophies, Buddhism and other Eastern religions not seen before in
America. The most recent books of Bill Zimmerman, journalist turned author, are The Little Book of Joy. and Dog-Mas: Simple Truths From a Wise Pet (both by Hazelden Publishers, 1995). Mr. Zimmerman said writing spiritual books for families is therapeutic for him. Growing up in a poor family in Brooklyn that experienced chaos, confusion and family feuding, he used prayer to battle the demons of the night. “I talked to God before sleeping,’’ he said. “it helped me immensely.” The shock of losing his brother to AIDS and the death of his mother at the same time led Mr. Zimmerman to record his positive thoughts, prayers and wishes for the day. “I found I was more focused, less pessimistic and depressed. I was able to appreciate life’s little blessings,” he said. Many children’s spiritual books are not necessarily religious. They acknowledge spiritual aspects of life and deal with the nature of God and the world at large. Douglas Wood’s Old Turtle (Pfeifer-Hamilton 1992) celebrates earth’s creator through a creation: a turtle. The book, illustrated by Cheng-Khee Chee, reminds young readers of all that is fragile on this planet. A hit of the evangelical movement is Ruth Bell Graham’s One Wintery Night (Baker Book House, 1995). The book, illustrated by Richard Jesse Watson, tells of a boy seeking shelter during a snowstorm from a kindly woman who tells him stories of the Bible from the Creation to the Resurrection of Jesus.
Among stores that carry these books are: Choices, 220 East 78th
Street; Enchanted Forest, 85 Mercer Street, and the Star
Magic Space Age Gifts. Or Call 212.414.0188
The Professional Writer. Copyright ©2005. All rights reserved. |
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