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Potter
Grief-stricken over a friend's drowning, Potter is visited by a bird who flies with him on a life-changing journey that helps him come to terms with sorrow and death
55 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1985
About the author
Walter Wangerin Jr.
98 books238 followersWalter Wangerin Jr. is widely recognized as one of the most gifted writers writing today on the issues of faith and spirituality. Starting with the renowned Book of the Dun Cow, Wangerin's writing career has encompassed most every genre: fiction, essay, short story, children's story, meditation, and biblical exposition. His writing voice is immediately recognizable, and his fans number in the millions. The author of over forty books, Wangerin has won the National Book Award, New York Times Best Children's Book of the Year Award, and several Gold Medallions, including best-fiction awards for both The Book of God and Paul: A Novel. He lives in Valparaiso, Indiana, where he is Senior Research Professor at Valparaiso University.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 8, 2025
This story feels particularly harrowing and emotional, but it also has some of the strongest spiritual allegories as Wangerin both delights in nature and weaves a parable that deals with grief, the joy of life, and sorrow.
September 15, 2024
Um...no. Just no. So disappointed. Garbage. This is literally going in the garbage...I can't even donate it as I don't want anyone to read it.
The illustrator, Daniel San Souci, is talented, but that doesn't mean I think the illustrations are appropriate. Especially in light of some of the text. Why? Why would Souci even agree to join in on this project anyhow? Why would someone think to keep mentioning the boy is only in his underpants? What does THAT even have to do with the main focus of the book? Completely unnecessary. This was written in 1985 so not from all the alphabet xyzabc in current times. "He lay naked, except for his underpants." "...strip to his underpants, and lie spread-eagle on the sheets..." Other very off things..to name a just a few. A drowned boy caught in the current by a twig that stuck into his nose. "Twig ran through his nose. It held him fast-" What the ??? Why do we care about the size of the kind womans butt? "...bustled in with the biggest butt in all the world and great arms that could never hang straight down because, like the sides of pyramids, they had to make room for Mrs. Larson's bottom, seventeen feet from one side to the other. Mrs. Larson had enormous quantities of sympathy, had gallons of pity, whole oceans of compassion -- and she kept it all inside her butt." Sigh...yeah...just unbelievable descriptions.
I just don't even know how to wrap my mind around this garbage. It is so far off on so many levels. The writing style, the plot, the storyline, the illustrations, the descriptions, the...everything...just NO. No, NO, NOOO!
Delusional, twisted, so far off of truth and goodness.
This is the first and last Walter Wangerin book -or rather garbage - for me. And how in the world did this garbage receive a reward in Evangelical Christian Literature?!?!!! ( oh wait...nowadays, that is becoming clearer maybe since things are so messed up.) It mentions things about God (many untrue things) so it must be biblical, right? (sarcastic handslap to forehead) Ugh....
Utter garbage!
The illustrator, Daniel San Souci, is talented, but that doesn't mean I think the illustrations are appropriate. Especially in light of some of the text. Why? Why would Souci even agree to join in on this project anyhow? Why would someone think to keep mentioning the boy is only in his underpants? What does THAT even have to do with the main focus of the book? Completely unnecessary. This was written in 1985 so not from all the alphabet xyzabc in current times. "He lay naked, except for his underpants." "...strip to his underpants, and lie spread-eagle on the sheets..." Other very off things..to name a just a few. A drowned boy caught in the current by a twig that stuck into his nose. "Twig ran through his nose. It held him fast-" What the ??? Why do we care about the size of the kind womans butt? "...bustled in with the biggest butt in all the world and great arms that could never hang straight down because, like the sides of pyramids, they had to make room for Mrs. Larson's bottom, seventeen feet from one side to the other. Mrs. Larson had enormous quantities of sympathy, had gallons of pity, whole oceans of compassion -- and she kept it all inside her butt." Sigh...yeah...just unbelievable descriptions.
I just don't even know how to wrap my mind around this garbage. It is so far off on so many levels. The writing style, the plot, the storyline, the illustrations, the descriptions, the...everything...just NO. No, NO, NOOO!
Delusional, twisted, so far off of truth and goodness.
This is the first and last Walter Wangerin book -or rather garbage - for me. And how in the world did this garbage receive a reward in Evangelical Christian Literature?!?!!! ( oh wait...nowadays, that is becoming clearer maybe since things are so messed up.) It mentions things about God (many untrue things) so it must be biblical, right? (sarcastic handslap to forehead) Ugh....
Utter garbage!
July 12, 2026
It’s just a kids book. Is it?
This impactful novella opens with the drowning of a boy‘s best friend. Wracked with grief and suffering from whooping cough, Potter is helpless to understand this calamity or to do anything to help.
Angry, but not knowing who to blame, he lashes out and injures a bird. Grief-stricken, he wanders outside to find and care for the bird and falls into a delirious fever in which the bird becomes a symbolic guide to his understanding of the grand redemptive story the Lord has written - and also his own part in it.
What a fascinating way to help children deal with grief and sorrow and to find hope in the midst of it.
4.5 / 5 Stars
This impactful novella opens with the drowning of a boy‘s best friend. Wracked with grief and suffering from whooping cough, Potter is helpless to understand this calamity or to do anything to help.
Angry, but not knowing who to blame, he lashes out and injures a bird. Grief-stricken, he wanders outside to find and care for the bird and falls into a delirious fever in which the bird becomes a symbolic guide to his understanding of the grand redemptive story the Lord has written - and also his own part in it.
What a fascinating way to help children deal with grief and sorrow and to find hope in the midst of it.
4.5 / 5 Stars
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews