I haven't done a book review in a long time. Years, actually.
New book, new blog, here we go. :)
"Noah" is a wordless book about...well, Noah. And the ark. And the flood.
I'll start with the aesthetics--"Noah" is printed by Plough Publishing, and is a hardbound book with sturdy, high-quality, high gloss pages. I received it free for review from Handlebar Publishing.
And every single page is covered, front and back, with brilliant, attention-catching artwork. In graphic novel style, the art appears to be a mixture of freehand drawing and computer graphics (especially for the backdrop images), intricate, engaging, and brightly colored. Be sure to check out the Amazon link to see some of the images they have available from the book. In this book Mark Ludy does a wonderful job of depicting light, color, and very importantly, action and movement. Visually, this is an extremely engaging book.
One of the most interesting aspects of the book is that it relates the story in a way that implies a much longer period of time between Noah's call and the beginning of the flood than most children's Bible versions do. You see the progression of time, and the growth of Noah's family, over a long period of time. It's a good reminder that the building of the ark was no slapdash affair, but a huge, long-term endeavor.
Parents will want to be aware that this book does not gloss over the violence of the flood itself, or the fact that many people died. If that is something you'd rather not deal with in depth with very young children, you may want to save this book for older children.
I found Noah to be a very unique and wonderfully engaging Bible story book, and I hope Mark Ludy has plans to do many more like it. At $14.99 from Amazon.com, it makes a great gift option, as well. Many thanks to Handlebar Publishing for letting me get my hands on this book!
