I Believe: The Nicene Creed

. Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, $16 (32pp) ISBN 978-0-8028-5258-8

Pauline Baynes, noted for her illustrations for J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings and C.S. Lewis's Narnia titles, brings her artistry to an elegant edition of I Believe: The Nicene Creed, the statement of Christian belief drafted in 325 at the council convened by Constantine. Illuminated capitals and architectonic forms pay homage to the style of Anglo-Saxon manuscripts, while the sumptuous palette invokes Persian manuscripts as well. The slightly undersize format helps earmark the book for gift-giving.

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