David y Goliat = David and Goliath

PreS-Gr 2-This rhymed retelling of the Bible story features warm, wide-eyed illustrations that emphasize the simplicity of David's faith and decisions and downplay the violence of the combat and King Saul's jealousy. Hernandez's Spanish adaptation relies on slant-rhyme where necessary, and her lines flow smoothly. Lewis's illustrations are inviting and cheerful, with broad swaths of watercolor washes and dark-lined details, including facial expressions and the soldiers' armor. A legitimate complaint concerns the depiction of Goliath as ""feo,"" or ugly and ogrelike, in the text, with a single, dark eyebrow and a bodily hairiness not apparent on the Israelite soldiers in the illustrations. While hardly essential for most school and public libraries, which will likely already own other retellings, the book is visually attractive and may prove quite popular in bookstores with large children's religion sections, and in parochial schools.-Coop Renner, Fairmeadows Elementary, Duncanville, TX