Book Report: God Bless the Gargoyles

46. Dav Pilkey, story and paintings, God Bless the Gargoyles (1996) (1/19/19)

I mentioned to a friend the other day that I'm reading picture books to bring me within reach of my fifty-book goal for the year (which ends ten days from today: and I'm gettin' there!). She thought about it and mentioned a few of her favorites, which she enjoys reading to her grandchildren. God Bless the Gargoyles was one title that stuck in my head. So I ordered it. It arrived today.

The author is apparently best known for his Captain Underpants series, which I gather is silly. This book, however, is decidedly unsilly. Though for some reason I was surprised that it's a rhyming book. But indeed, the rhymes made it that much more enjoyable: they're fun and give the text a nice dancelike rhythm.

The story is simple: long ago, when huge cathedrals were first built, the craftsmen made stone creatures to "set . . .  on perches to guard and protect and watch over the churches." These gargoyles were loyal, watchful, courageous, and fearless. However, over the years, people forgot the magic, and began to curse them as demons, as grotesque and horrid. The gargoyles became very sad.

but as it so happened, some angels were near,
and heeding the grief of a gargoyle's tear,
they each fluttered down from the heavens on high
to sit with the gargoyles beneath thundering skies.

They whispered life back into the gargoyles, who accompanied the angels on a great nighttime flight, soaring through the clouds and over the land, where the angels blessed all the creatures of the earth—especially those who do not belong, and the ones who are grieving, and the dreamers and the lovers whose hearts have been broken:

god bless each soul that is tortured and taunted,
god bless all creatures alone and unwanted.
and the gargoyles beheld wherever they roamed
the that souls of the lost weren't really alone.
each one had an angel, each one was protected,
and each one was cherished and loved and respected.

It's a lovely message, one that reminds me of one of my favorite movies, Wim Wenders's Wings of Desire. And the illustrations, which are reminiscent of stained-glass windows, merely add to the feeling of benediction and celebration. Unfortunately, I found only a couple of them online, so . . . you'll just have to seek out the book for yourself to see what I mean.