Children's spirituality thrives on playfulness. It demands respect. And it overflows into the lives of others bringing gifts and abundant riches. In this buoyant book, Marsha Sinetar (The Mentor's Spirit) celebrates the spiritual intelligence of children. She defines this quality as inspired thought and "intuition, a firm moral compass, power or inner authority, the ability to discern right from wrong, and wisdom."

Using illustrative material from her own childhood and the youth of Cesar Chavez, Louise Nevelson, May Sarton, John Muir, Helen Keller, Malcolm X, Mahatma Gandhi, Georgia O'Keeffe, and others, Sinetar demonstrates the various ways in which "early awakeners" flourish in the face of challenges and demonstrate an ability to transcend difficulty in order to "walk in truth." Many of these gifted children are little "old souls" who make the most of wholesome autonomy, positive rebellion, and intuitive prowess. Spiritual intelligence enables these boys and girls to move into life with brightness and virtue. Near the end of this optimistic volume, Sinetar lists some of the character traits of parents who serve as good facilitators for their offsprings' spiritual intelligence.