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    The Unfinished Angel
    The Unfinished Angel
    The Unfinished Angel
    Audiobook2 hours

    The Unfinished Angel

    Written by Sharon Creech

    Narrated by Samantha Quan

    4/5

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    About this audiobook

    Newbery Medal winner Sharon Creech crafts a truly endearing story, one that is imbued with happiness, wonder, and an appreciation for all the little things that make life big. With beautiful, fresh new cover art, this is a gem of a book.

    In the winding stone tower of the Casa Rosa, in a quiet little village in the Swiss Alps, lives one very unlikely angel—one that is still awaiting her instructions from the angel-training center. What happens to an angel who doesn't know her mission? She floats and swishes from high above, watching the crazy things that "peoples" say and do. But when a zany American girl named Zola arrives in town and invades the Casa Rosa, dogs start arfing, figs start flying through the air, lost orphans wander in, and the village becomes anything but quiet. And as Zola and the angel work together to rescue the orphans, they each begin to realize their purpose and learn that there is magic in the most ordinary acts of kindness.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateSep 22, 2009
    ISBN9780061961663
    Author

    Sharon Creech

    Sharon Creech has written twenty-one books for young people and is published in over twenty languages. Her books have received awards in both the U.S. and abroad, including the Newbery Medal for Walk Two Moons, the Newbery Honor for The Wanderer, and Great Britain’s Carnegie Medal for Ruby Holler. Before beginning her writing career, Sharon Creech taught English for fifteen years in England and Switzerland. She and her husband now live in Maine, “lured there by our grandchildren,” Creech says. www.sharoncreech.com

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    Reviews for The Unfinished Angel

    4/5

    16 ratings12 reviews

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    • 5/5
      There are so few books that have touched me deeply enough that I couldn't imagine my life without having read them: The Alchemist, The Little Prince, The Graveyard Book. And now, I add to that list The Unfinished Angel by Sharon Creech.

      The story is simple. It goes like this: an angel lives in a tower in a small village in the Swiss Alps. This angel, he isn't sure what his purpose is. "Me, I am an angel. I am supposed to be having all the words in all the languages, but I am not. Many are missing. I am also not having a special assignment. I think I did not get all the training. . . . Do the other angels know what they are doing? Am I the only confused one? Maybe I am unfinished, an unfinished angel."

      This angel watches over the people of this little village, and then one day, an American family comes to live in the house attached to his tower. Zola, a young girl vibrant with life and colors—she wears three different colored skirts and numerous bright ribbons at the same time—meets angel and actually sees him. Thus begins an unlikely friendship between a vivacious girl and a grumpy angel.

      Though the events of the story are ordinary, there is an uncommon grace and elegance to the prose, even with an angel narrator that cannot speak English properly and often fuses words. ("Zola smills, smuggles, what is the word? What is it, that word for happy teeth??") But more than that, the beauty of the story outshines any I have read in a long while.

      Through often misguided efforts, angel watches over his town and his "peoples." By the end of the book, angel realizes he has a purpose, and we recognize the goodness that there is in the world and the hearts of the people who populate it.

      "I am feeling most hopeful watching these peoples. I don't know what to say about this feeling. I don't eat food, but if I did, maybe it is as if I were hungry, so hungry, and I didn't even know it, and then I found a mountain of food and I ate and ate, and then I sat back contentful and there was still more mountain for the next day and the next day. Maybe it is like that. I don't know. Since I don't eat food, it is hard to say."

      After reading this striking story, I am feeling contentful as well.

      In conclusion, this mesmerizing story is one that will become a classic, and I would not be too far off in saying I see this as a strong contender for the Newberry. Every child, every adult should become friends with this unfinished angel and let him help you become more of a finished person.

      P.S. I have serious issues with the book's cover design. Had I not read a review of the book previous to buying it, I would most likely have passed it over.
    • 4/5
      "Magic is found in the most ordinary acts of kindness."

      The Unfinished Angel is such a touching, sweet, innocent and funny book. It's such a light and uplifting read that just gives you "happy feels" all throughout the book. It's nice to take a break from all the cheesy, romantic, and thrilling books and just read a book like The Unfinished Angel.
    • 1/5
      absolutely awful.
    • 3/5
      This book would be so much fun to read aloud with the accent. Probably the only way some students would understand the text and spellings. A delightful book. But, then I love Sharon Creech.
    • 4/5
      An unusual tale told from the perspective of an innocent (and seemingly young) angel in the stone tower of an ancient villa in the Swiss Alps, award-winning author Creech expresses the joy and sorrow of the experiences of the humans the angel snoops on as they go about their daily business. Told with the simple and sometimes confused language of someone who is an inexperience speaker of English, readers will find the unlikely protagonist hilarious and endearing. A myriad of colorful characters pepper the curious plot as the angel develops an unlikely friendship with young Zola, a new arrival who seems to be the first person to recognize the angel’s existence. An easy read with short chapters, this coming-of-age fantasy tale will lend itself towards a discussion of the importance of ordinary acts of kindness in the lives of those who are misunderstood or who have little available to them in life.
    • 3/5
      Tiny moments. I didn't like the dialect. Too Jar-Jar a means to convey this quiet story. Readers may like the short chapters. I wonder though if the narrative strand is too vague for the average young reader. Tender intentions but not one I would recommend.
    • 5/5
      In a small town in Italy, an angel watches over the townspeople even though she isn't really sure what her responsibilities are. The people can't see her until a man and his daughter come from America to build an international school, and the daughter Zola not only knows that she's an angel, she speaks with her and expects her to fix problems in the village, like when she discovers a group of homeless children hiding in an abandoned shed. The angel, who clearly isn't sure what she's supposed to do, follows Zola's lead. Told in the mixed-up voice of the angel, this book shows that even those who we think are in charge may not feel quite so confident of their abilities.
    • 5/5
      Another good Sharon Creech novel. I intend to select it for use in a future mother/daughter book club. An angel and a girl team up to save a group of orphans and by doing so, the town.
    • 4/5
      I thought that the unfinished angel was really cute. This book shows that not everone knows their purpose. It could be something as simple as helping others and improving life for the better.
    • 4/5
      A rather aimless and confused angel lives in a tower in Switzerland until Zola arrives. Although the angel is invisible to most people, Zola can see her/him and she has very firm ideas as to what the angel should be doing. Under Zola’s direction, the angel rescues a group of orphans and gradually the sleepy Swiss village starts to wake up and come alive.This gently humorous book is a thoughtful read that would appeal to adults as well as children.
    • 5/5
      This book was hilarious about an angel living in an ancient tower in the Swiss Alps. A family moves in and the daughter Zolo can actually see the angel and begins telling the angel what to do . . . and the angel doesn't like peoples telling her what to do. Crazy characters and fun vocabulary make this a great read.
    • 4/5
       I think that this is a great book! I really like how the perspective of the book comes from an angel. I think that it is really cool to have the speaker of the book be that of something that is non-human. I think this gives the book somewhat of a twist and makes it an interesting read. I also like how the book has a setting that is not very commonplace or heard of, Casa Rosa, a tiny village in the Swiss Alps. I think that this also makes the book very interesting and different to read. Another thing that I liked about this book was the angel's characteristics. I like how the angel was supposed to know how to protect people and fix things and was also supposed to know many different types of languages but doesn't know how to use them. I think that this links very closely to the central message of the book, which is that sometimes it takes time to figure out our purpose in life or we may not know or see what it is right away, but everyone does indeed have a purpose. I think that by having the angel not understand her purpose throughout the story and feel useless at times gives way for a great mirroring effect for readers of this book. This book could easily appeal to reader's who don't have a sense of self, are not confident in themselves, or simply don't feel as if they have a purpose.