All Things Bright and Beautiful - Hardcover

Alexander, Cecil Frances

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0824916549 ISBN 13: 9780824916541

Publisher: WorthyKids, 2017

Synopsis

First published by Cecil Frances Alexander in 1948, this favorite hymn has become a mainstay of churches and Sunday school classes everywhere. Artist Katy Hudson brings new joy to Alexander's words with her fresh and bright watercolor style. Readers can join in the fun as they follow two little girls and their brother on a day filled with the discovery of "all things bright and beautiful.á¿¿

About this title

About the Author:

Cecil Frances Alexander was born in 1818 near Dublin, Ireland. She began writing poetry at the age of nine and went on to write hundreds of poems and hymns. Among her best-known hymns are "All Things Bright and Beautiful," "Once in Royal David's City," and "There is a Green Hill Far Away," all of which appeared in Hymns for Little Children, published in 1848. She died in 1895 and was remembered as a woman of great kindness and generosity.

Katy was raised in Middlesbrough, United Kingdom, and started her career as a small child drawing on freshly painted walls! Her parents quickly encouraged drawing with pencil and paper instead. The idea stuck, and after earning a degree in illustration, Katy is now a freelance illustrator. Katy works at a desk in a studio in an old library and likes to tap dance in her spare time.

Review:

Bryan’s artwork is at its best in this interpretation of the title’s famous hymn, written by nineteenthcentury Irish poet Cecil Alexander to a seventeenth-century melody. The bright, swirling, colored-paper collage images focus on earth’s creatures, in the sea, on land, and in the sky, as well as on the connections between them. The images come to a climax in a gorgeous, double-page spread of two young girls, one black, one white, celebrating who they are and what they see in the world: children, flowers, mountains, trees, stars, the moon, and the sun. Using the musical score printed on the last page, grown-ups can sing along as they share the book with young kids, who will want to point to the small details in every scene even as they absorb the sweeping sense of the interconnected world. From deep-sea views of a whale and fish to soaring scenes of a purple mountaintop, the rainbow theme is constant and extends to pictures of an arch that fills the sky and beams that glow from the open pages of a book. On other spreads, children of all races celebrate sunset and morning, the winter wind and summer sun, and lush gardens, with the words that God almighty made them all. A beautiful celebration of the elemental creation story. — Hazel Rochman, BOOKLIST, March 1, 2010, STAR

Bryan elevates a beloved hymn to new heights in this joyful treatment of Alexander’s classic song. This hymn has been interpreted by artists such as Anna Vojtech (NorthSouth, 2006), Bruce Whatley (HarperCollins, 2001), and others, but Bryan’s multicultural celebration of God and creation bursts with originality and contemporary appeal. Cut-paper collages in cheerful hues depict scenes of people, animals, and nature. Each illustration holds its own, as there are no weak links here. Opening with a sunburst Ferris wheel full of adults and children of many nations and ending with the multicolored hands of the Creator reaching down from the sky, the artist has created a masterpiece in which art and text work together. Bryan includes images of his mother’s scissors (which he now uses) on the endpapers, along with an illustrator’s note and musical notation. This is a memorable interpretation that’s rich in color and detail.–SLJ, April 1, 2010

About this edition

• Publisher: WorthyKids
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 0824916549
• ISBN 13: 9780824916541
• Binding: Board book
• Number of pages: 20
• Illustrator: Hudson Katy