Book Review: The Moon Prince and the Sea August 21 2017
Written and illustrated by Daniela Rose Anderson
Et Alia Press, Little Rock, Arkansas, 2016, $19.95
Waldorf graduates like Daniela Rose Anderson often carry a global consciousness. They often volunteer for service in unlikely places with the greatest needs. Daniela did such volunteering and came to know a boy named Sumit and a girl named Marina Both were very young and both had terminal leukemia. The heart of Daniela linked the two hearts of the children who shared the same illness from faraway places. The link Daniela made between them gave hope and purpose to the two children as they faced the endings of their very short lives.
The Moon Prince and the Sea is an allegorical tale of the two youngsters, Sumit and Marina. Some of the story is about the real facts of needing medicine to sustain life and also about the dream world of children that spins gold from straw with hope and love from afar. Marina knows that Sumit is near her as Sumit knows that Marina is always thinking of him. This knowledge of being linked in a similar journey makes the two strong friends even though they never have met. They know they will meet soon in the dream world in which they are already friends, cheering each other from across the sea to be strong and steady in the difficult journeys they both face and both share.
Many medical doctors recommend this book and offer fine tribute to the caliber of this story and to the power of the book to give children with terminal illnesses hope and models of why illness occurs. Additionally, the book reminds children of the many share the same difficulties.
Waldorf Publications highly recommends this book, The Moon Prince and the Sea, written by this dedicated and caring Waldorf graduate. Proceeds of the sale of the book go to help children without access to medical care and medicine to obtain the care they need.
The book costs only $19.95 but holds a million dollars worth of heart-warmth and healing.
This thoughtfully illustrated story reminds us that the loss of a child is profound and that the ravages of disease are cross-cultural. And yet, even in these tragedies, hope is ever present, beauty shines forth, and love is boundless. —D. Micah Hester, PhD, Chief, Division of Medical Humanities at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, clinical ethicist at Arkansas Children’s Hospital, and co-author of Guidance for Healthcare Ethics Committees (Cambridge Medicine, 2012)