Ecclesiastes: To Everything There Is a Season

In a companion to Creation and Nativity, Rylant offers a stirring picture book rendering of Ecclesiastes. Each portrait-oriented spread includes a single phrase from the paean, presented with spare, brightly colored acrylics in a naïf style. One image shows a child figure reaching into a planter box (“a time to plant”), then bringing flowers to an elderly woman: “and a time to pluck up that/ which has been planted.” Elsewhere, family members wave goodbye to one another, a broad distance already seeming to expand between them (“a time to weep”). In the following spread, they reunite: “and a time to laugh.” Through her childlike images, Rylant conveys the emotional rawness of the cherished verse. Ages up to 8. [em](Sept.) [/em]