Exodus
Kindergarten-Grade 4-Wildsmith recounts Moses's saga from his rescue in the bulrushes by Pharaoh's daughter to his death on Mt. Nebo overlooking the Promised Land. The writing is straightforward and simple; the story is brief but accurate. The artwork is a visual feast. The double-page illustrations, framed in gold, are panoramas of activity, crowded with the figures of the Hebrew multitudes suffering in slavery, streaming out of Egypt, traversing the Red Sea between walls of water, wandering in the brown hills of the desert, and at last, triumphantly entering the verdant Canaan. Filled with meticulous and decorative detail, glowing with rich colors, and arranged to maximize dramatic impact, the paintings show the awesome events with excitement and beauty. The pillars of cloud and fire are shaped like huge pointing fingers. Animals, birds, and sea life abound. God's presence is shown by a multicolored, starry shape superimposed on a sphere. The endpapers present the Ten Commandments printed on monumental, gold-decorated arks against a background of intense violet and rose. Even if your library has Leonard Everett Fisher's excellent Moses (1995) or Miriam Chaikin's Exodus (1987, both Holiday), powerfully illustrated by Charles Mikolaycak, this new book should be included.Patricia Pearl Dole, formerly at First Presbyterian School, Martinsville, VACopyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.