Here's a small book worth buying if you've ever wrestled with the eternal question: Why evil? Why cruelty? Why suffering? Why do catastrophes happen?
Children ask these questions without warning, and so do our brothers and sisters with disabilities. We freeze, unsure what to say.
The author uses a grandmother who calmly answers her grandson as he opens their conversation in tears: "Someone stole my bicycle!" Her responses come with short, illustrated stories that help the child understand—up to a point—and push him to ask more. "So God is mean?" "Where does evil come from?" "Why me?"...
The grandmother handles it well enough. She walks us through what we probably already know, but what embarrasses us when we try to explain too much—and especially when we hit the wall of suffering's mystery.
I strongly recommend it to parents, catechists, and Fede e Luce groups. It gives you a framework for retelling some of these stories and opens the door to real conversation.
Vittorino Andreoli, 2008