“THE LORD’S PRAYER,” by Rick Warren and Richard Jesse Watson, Zonderkidz, Jan. 25, 2011, $16.99 (ages 4 and up)
“‘Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.” So begins a prayer said daily by millions of Christians throughout the world. It’s a simple prose taught by Jesus to his disciples, giving them a framework for speaking with their heavenly father.
It’s also the inspiration for “The Lord’s Prayer,” by Rick Warren and illustrated by Richard Jesse Watson. This winner of the International Book Awards Christian Inspirational category combines the original Biblical text with illustrations and a forward by Warren, who along with his wife, Kay, founded the Saddleback Church in Orange County, Calif.
Familiar text takes on new meaning when accompanying illustrations of children of all creeds as they go throughout their days: learning to walk, drawing with chalk, feeding bread to birds, playing and using their imaginations. Each line has a separate illustration, with each repeated in smaller frames at the end of the book, as is the text in its entirety on one single page.
From the portraits of children on the inside cover to an imaginative romp with animals, the illustrations here a bold and beautiful. Some take your breath away, while others simply make the reader think. With the exception of a young ballerina who looks like her legs on backward, the people and children are lifelike and lovely.
Thoughtful and elegantly executed, “The Lord’s Prayer” is definitely geared toward readers/believers of The King James version of the Bible. However, its creators have clearly taken great pains to appeal to peoples of all ethnicities.
