THE SONG OF FRANCIS AND THE ANIMALS

Strikingly beautiful woodcuts and an oversized format create a first-rate visual accompaniment to this imaginative story about St. Francis of Assisi. The cover illustration shows a parade of animals following St. Francis, with just his sandal and the bottom of his robe in view, as he seems to stride off the cover’s right edge, leading the reader into the story. The lyrical text focuses on St. Francis’s affinity with animals and describes him simply as a man who preached and sang with “people and dogs and flowers and fish and frogs.” His powerful connection to animals is shown through several encounters: saving a worm, taming a wolf, and sheltering and singing with birds. Though there is no author’s note to explain the life of the saint in more detail, this treatment serves well as an introduction to the saint who lived in a down-to-earth fashion. (glossary) (Nonfiction. 4-9)