"Fallen Angel" has a light style, one in which humor relieves the gravity of events.

Most of the humor depends on the children overanalyzing problems—something their parents have encouraged: "Are you—like—an angel?" Courtney asked at last. The angel looked very puzzled. "*L*i*k*e*?" Then, receiving no response from the children, he added in speech rather than song. "Very like."

"He means he is," said Maddy, her thumb nowhere near her mouth now.

"He means"—Judson was adamant— "sort of."

"How can he be sort of when he is very like?" Courtney said.

"*S*T*O*P*!" the angel sang out. Children of this era, it seemed, were enough to try even an angel's patience.

Yolen also creates a consistent atmosphere of suspense and the miraculous through sharply observed descriptions such as Courtney "could see through him...