The Lord's Prayer

Watson and Warren's complementary visual and textual interpretations of the familiar Christian prayer provide a welcome devotional resource for parents and children. Against full-bleed paintings, Watson (The Legend of Saint Christopher) offers images of childhood's stages, beginning with a picture suggestive of Michelangelo's The Creation of Adam—here, a baby's hand clasps a much larger one against a golden orb of rays and swirls. Ensuing illustrations offer multiethnic depictions of infants, toddlers, and children, sometimes in solitary moments, sometimes joining with creatures young and old, great and small, in celebration. An illustration that accompanies "forgive us our debts" features two siblings who may have fought over a teddy bear, while an image of children playing on a great tree by the sea illustrates "For thine is the kingdom." Warren's introduction tells parents that children "have much to teach us about prayer," while his end-of-book commentary explicating the prayer addresses children; under the "kingdom" image it reads, "I am part of God's family, which will last forever and ever!" This spirited rendition should have wide appeal. Ages 4–7. (Feb.)