The story of Noah has to be among the most well-known and overtold ever. And for good reason... it is bone chillingly terrifying but hopeful, and it involves a lot of cute fuzzy wuzzy creatures.

Probably more because of the creatures than the terror, the idea of Noah and the flood has been particularly popular for children's books, toys, songs, decor, etc. Noah's ark shape sorters are standard, but what baby has an Egyptians-drowned-in-the-Red-Sea bedroom?

That said, who knows how many Noah related picture books I've read over the years, as a kid and now to my own kids. They kind of all blur together.



Not this one though. This one stands out. For one thing, there are no words. I'm not sure how much I would have valued this before I had kids, but now I just can't believe how brilliant it is. Without the words, I am reminded to tailor the story to the level of whichever of my kids I happen to be reading with at the moment. There's no risk of that one random theologically sketchy line that bugs you every time you read it. It's kind of delightful to watch the kids taking in the images on their own and coming up with questions


The pictures themselves are realistic enough to feel reverent and thoughtful rather than cutesy, but fanciful enough to make it clear that the artist is expressing his own vison and not under the illusion that he is under divine inspiration. The creative and often unexpected details kept the kids' interest (and mine as well). The only problem is that since there's no text, it's kind of tempting to take the book apart and frame pages. !!

(The back of the book advertises the fact that there is a teeny tiny sketch of a mouse hidden in each picture. My kids are still a bit young for that, but I won't confess how much time I spent poring over the illustrations to find Squeakers. Ahem)

~I received this copy for review purposes, and I was thrilled to find it in the mailbox, but the opinions here are my own.~