THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD

Spirin continues his series of illustrated Bible stories with this individualistic and somewhat mysterious interpretation of the beloved Twenty-Third Psalm. The familiar words of the psalm are artfully set on parchment scrolls stretched across the bottom of the pages in an elegant design. Spirin’s intricately detailed oil paintings use scenes and images from the life of King David, thought to be the author of many of the Psalms. The cover and the first spread show an image of the young David as a shepherd boy, tending lambs playing peaceably next to a regal lion, while the title page and a later spread show a mature King David seated on his throne with his harp, surrounded by angels. The richly colored oil paintings are infused with Spirin’s signature golden light, complemented by the volume’s gold endpapers and the title’s gold lettering. The final page is a fold-out poster revealing a large painting; all the illustrations in the volume are smaller images from this larger work. Though the religious symbolism in the illustrations will be familiar to many, other symbols and images are less certain, and an illustrator’s note of explanation would have made the volume more accessible to those less familiar with biblical history. (Nonfiction. 5-adult)