A Child's Book of Prayer in Art - Hardcover

Beckett, Wendy

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1564588750 ISBN 13: 9781564588753

Publisher: Dk Pub, 1995

Synopsis

Combines well-known religous paintings with explanations of what is happening in each image and how the pictures can be used as a way of "listening" to God and learning simple lessons.

About this title

From School Library Journal:

Grade 2-6?Sister Wendy, a TV personality in Britain, shows that art and religion are still mutually illuminating on the page as well as on the screen. Here, for each of a dozen works of art, she finds a moral quality to commend. Ghirlandaio's painting of a child looking raptly up into the face of an old man with a warty nose, for example, is taken by Sister Wendy to illustrate "love." The other qualities covered are respect, family, understanding, learning, forgiveness, choosing heaven, true happiness, thinking, determination, selflessness, and listening. In each case, the verso shows the whole picture; on the right are two sections of it, slightly enlarged. Two chunks of black type present Sr. Wendy's description of the painting and reflection on its moral lesson. In the center of the page is a block of large red type in quotation marks: a prayer, requesting that the petitioner be able to act on this particular moral principle. Every one is a prayer of petition for the child's own moral character: there are no prayers of glorification, thanksgiving, contrition, etc. All of the art, whether overtly religious (i.e., Christian) or secular, is turned to a specifically religious purpose. No one could reasonably object either to the sterling qualities showcased, or to the lovely reproductions. However, the didactic aims of this book are obvious. Adults who feel that this sort of didacticism?teaching virtue?is just what kids need will love this book. Those who may feel that art is its own excuse for being can still enjoy the pictures.?Patricia (Dooley) Lothrop Green, St. George's School, Newport, RI
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist:

Gr. 3^-6. Linking the work of 15 different artists, from Michelangelo to Millet, to a spiritual value such as respect or forgiveness, Sister Wendy Beckett introduces children to art as a means of discovering faith. She contends that "looking at art is one way of listening to God," and her text reveals that neither looking at art nor listening to God is a passive activity. She even suggests that adults not "sincerely trying to live in love and truth" themselves refrain from discussing the ideas presented with children, who "learn more from what we are than from what we say." Each oversize, double-page spread presents a large painting, two enlarged details, and brief description and commentary, with a lovely, simple prayer appearing midpage in big, red type. The commentary is insightful and wise. Beckett's evaluation of Millet's Seated Shepherdess, for example, communicates the shepherd girl's poverty and isolation as well as her apparent contentedness while it emphasizes the need for quiet times to think and to make choices that matter. "Nobody can tell us how to live," Beckett writes. "We all have to work out the wisest way for ourselves. God waits to help us . . . ." With appeal to older as well as middle readers, this is a remarkable book, not only for its innate spirituality and wisdom, but also for its harmonious partnership of great art and astute interpretation. Shelley Townsend-Hudson

About this edition

• Publisher: Dk Pub
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 1564588750
• ISBN 13: 9781564588753
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 32