A couple of books on faith

Two that caught my attention this week:

"Little Shoko and the Crocodile" by Thelma Sithole, a software engineer in New Hampshire who established a nonprofit foundation and is donating proceeds from sales to help HIV-positive children and adults in her native Zimbabwe. It's a charming folktale about the wisdom of listening to one's parents.

"This I Believe II: More Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women," edited by Jay Allison and Dan Gediman. Favorite contributions are "Dancing All the Dances as Long as I Can" by Robert Fulghum of "All I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten" fame, Wired editor Kevin Kelly's stories about riding his bicycle across the US and the kindness of strangers, and the late great Studs Terkel's paen to "Community in Action.''