EVIDENCE OF ANGELS
by Suza Scalora with Francesca Lia Block & illustrated by Suza Scalora
Scalora documents the existence of supernatural creatures in the periphery of our everyday world with her camera, this time capturing angels in a catalog of vibrant, ethereal images. Readers will find themselves briefly enchanted by luminous mixtures of photography, swirling color and pulsating digital enhancement. This amalgam of fictitious, glowing augmentations and actual photographs will titillate readers eager to play mystical make-believe. While The Fairies (1999) offered little back story, otherworldly maven Block assists the illustrator here, supplying some word magic and a somewhat cohesive narrative. Readers learn that a dead lover (Gustav) catalyzes the grief-stricken Scalora to look for angels and hear their messages. Some teens will gobble up the gothic romance, dramatic language and the angels’ complicated, comforting advice. Overembelleshed imagery, however, will too often leave them just plain disoriented rather than magically mystified. Many readers will squint to discern the images, as she drenches the page with color, popping light and dizzying motion. (Picture book. 12 & up)