The World Is Awake (Hardcover)

This lovely book extends the uplifting sentiment of Psalm 118:24 by following a pair of siblings through their day, and framing the story with the Bible verse itself: 'This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.' A little brown-skinned girl and her brother (the boy narrates) look outside onto a yard alive with butterflies, dragonflies, grasshoppers, and bees. The rhyming text moves the reader with the children from inside to outside, with the trees and houses leaning toward one another in a reassuring way. Next is a trip to the zoo with their parents, followed by a visit to a farmer's market, a bountiful dinner of fruits and vegetables, prayer, a book, and bed. The centerpiece of the book, in which the children, visiting the zoo, gaze through glass at animals--predator and prey--standing next to each other, will remind many adult readers of the Eden-like Peaceable Kingdom paintings by American artist Edward Hicks. This is indeed an Edenic appreciation of the world. --Connie Fletcher