JESUS

Demi continues her series of biographies of world religious figures with this exquisitely illustrated life of Jesus, using selections from the King James Bible as her text. Major events and stories unfold in chronological order, using short excerpts from all the Gospels. The text is set on soft golden-yellow backgrounds with the words of Christ highlighted in red type. Demi paints her small-scale illustrations in glowing jewel tones, with gold highlights and patterned borders surrounding each vignette from Christ’s life. The slightly flattened perspective, stylized arrangement of figures and limited backgrounds impart an ancient feeling, echoed by the traditional wording of the text. Her approach to symbolic representation of Christian figures is also traditional: God is shown in one illustration as an elderly man with a white beard at the top of one panel, and the devil is shown with wings, horns and a tail in another. The striking illustrations and thoughtful design add up to another winning addition to this series. (Nonfiction. 5-10)