BROTHER JUNIPER

In So’s hands, watercolor, ink and gouache make for soft edges, fine detail, bright color and lively expression as Gibfried tells the story of one of St Francis’s friars, Brother Juniper. No one doubts his goodness, but the other brothers worry because Brother Juniper thinks nothing of giving away everything he has. When they go off to preach, a series of needy folk come to the chapel; Brother Juniper meets their great needs by giving away chalice and cloth, doors and windows, even his broom and at last, his robe. The brothers come home to find Juniper naked in an empty hole. They are, needless to say, rather upset, but when Juniper calls the faithful to worship (he has to shout DING DING DING because he gave the bell to a teacher to start a school), all the people he assisted and all of their families gather to thank him. Francis says, “I wish I had a forest of these Junipers.” When Juniper has given away everything, So depicts him from the back wearing only his Franciscan sandals, so children will giggle but understand his fierce generosity. (Picture book. 5-8)