Children's novels are a great place for writers to expunge their ideas about life, the universe and God...

...and they can be extremely influencial on the young mind.


'"Do you believe everything has come into being by itself?" I asked. "Or do you believe there's a God who has created it all?"

"I don't know," he said, "but I'm usre the dinosaurs and the ancient mumbos of Eljo never asked questions like that."

I laughed. "But we do," I said. "Asking difficult questions is something else we both do."

"Maybe asking questions, particularly questions without answers, is the most important of all the likenesses we share," said Mika with a big grin.

Then he asked two questions which I've never forgotten.

"If there is a God, who is he? And if there isn't a God, what is the universe?"

It took me a long time to think these questions over. If there was a God who had created teh entire universe, who was he? And what was he? And where was he? And if a God hadn't created the universe, what is it and where has it come from? Where is its centre and where does it end?

"What do you believe? I asked him again.

Mika made a deep bow.

"I'm not so sure that the universe is an accident."

"But do you believe in a God who made it all?"

Again he bowed.

"Will you promise to take an answer for an answer?" he asked.

"Of course," I said. I took it that he meant I should treat his answer merely as an answer. By which he meant that an answer was worth much less than a question.

His eyes seemed to flash.

"The force of gravity makes your planet orbit the sun, and the force of gravity from the moon pulls at the sea and makes tides rise and fall. Don't you think there must also be a force that dragged you up from the oceans and gave you eyes for seeing and a brain for thinking?"

I didn't know what to say.

"I sometimes wonder if people who don't believe this are missing an important sense," said Mika finally.'

~the climax of Hello? Is anybody there? by Jostein Gaarder, a children's novel about natural science and evolutionary biology. Mika is a child from another planet who has come down to earth to share with the narrator the differences of their planets, their evolutions, and their similarities. It is the tradition of Mika and his race of Mumbos (who are not mammals, but are born out of hard-shelled eggs, though they look very similar to humans), to bow when someone asks a question. To Mumbos, a good question is much more significant than an answer; for answers are "always the stretch of road that lies behind you" and questions point the "way forward" to further exploration...hmm...