God's holy darkness

K-Gr 3--With a wish to "combat colorism in Christianity," the creators of this book note in the opening pages that "Darkness and blackness and night are too often compared to lightness and whiteness and day and found deficient, but let us name the beauty and goodness and holiness of darkness and blackness and night." In this, the book transcends some of its religious parameters and will work in any context where false equivalents are drawn between dark as "less than" and negative, with white set as the preference. The authors point, through Bible verse to the creation that came from sacred darkness, to the stars in a black sky that show evidence of a heaven and more, and yet the lessons never feel forced. The illustrations veer between abstract and literal, creating conversation starters for classrooms where Christian content is not treated as hallowed text, but as one interpretation of the many stories people tell. VERDICT For collections that already include similar material, this book states very clearly what it is and what it hopes to be used for; it enlarges an existing discussion and turns tropes around to include everyone and everything.--Kimberly Olson Fakih