Little Grey and the Great Mystery

Little Grey, being a squirrel, is a ‘gatherer’, and when he asks the ultimate question of his grandmother, ‘What do you know of the Great Mystery from where we all come?’, Old Grey tells him that it is ‘a very large wondering’ and that he should go out and ‘gather some answers’. His friend the crow says the Great Mystery is like the wind to crows because they love the way it carries them safely; the stream says the Great Mystery is like the sea because all water is one there. And so it goes on. After all his questioning, he finally sits down to think what the Great Mystery is to himself. He discovers it is like the giant beech tree he lives in, which he loves and which gives him shelter. The answer is love and that each one finds the answer in his own way. This is a profound story. Full of philosophical yearnings and answers that are not easy, it is also full of warmth and truth. Lion is a Christian publisher, and this certainly will have meaning to Christians. But there are universal truths here that will apply to most. The soft pastel illustrations convey exactly the beauty of the text. A lovely book.