The Donkey and the Golden Light
Grade 2-4–A religious allegory about a donkey, born in a Bethlehem stable on a very special night, that survives a long, hardworking life only to carry, as a grown man, the baby also born that night in the selfsame stable, into Jerusalem to hosannas and his crucifixion. The donkey–named Bethlehem–always remembers the golden light in that long-ago stable and struggles to understand its meaning. Bethlehem's story is accompanied by John Speirs's rich tapestry of luminous, detailed art elegantly decorated with gold. Inspired by Pieter Brueghel the Elder, these sumptuous paintings are explained in the illustration references and in the artist's note. A visual feast, this faith-based work is as jewel-like as an illustrated manuscript, and it will give children a brief vision of the message of Jesus's life, and a sense of the continual search for the depths of its meaning.–Patricia Manning, formerly at Eastchester Public Library, NYCopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.