Joan of Arc
"This is a true story," Josephine Poole proclaims, as she begins to  weave her lovely picture-book biography of Joan of Arc. "It happened over 500 years ago, in France." Children, of course, are immediately hooked--especially when the truth unfolds into a story as mystical, timeless, and exquisitely written and illustrated as this one. Rather than bog the narrative down with excessive political and military details, Poole aims straight for the heart of faith in this amazing story about a 13-year-old girl who hears divine voices. When she is still but a teenager, the "Voices" compel her to lead an army of soldiers and save the king of France. Award-winning illustrator Angela Barrett (The Emperor's New Clothes) paints with springy grass greens and lamb whites to portray the early innocence of Joan the farm girl. But when she is transformed into Joan of Arc, Barrett surrounds her with the murky colors of war and the grim grays of death. Likewise, the face of Joan transforms from a girlish visage to that of a young warrior woman, besieged with grief for those who have died in war. And when Joan of Arc is to be burned, Barrett once more transforms Joan into an adult woman illuminated by the protection of belief. Poole and Barrett both resisted the temptation (as others have not) to insert religious agendas when portraying Joan of Arc's conversation with the Voices and her reported conversation with the archangel Michael after she was betrayed and imprisoned in a castle. As a result, the story becomes even more authentic and spiritually satisfying, especially when Joan is burned into an eternal star: "A saint is like a star. A star and a saint shine forever." (Ages 7 and older)--Gail Hudson