Love Is

From Barnes & Noble

Love bears all things. Love believes all things. Love hopes all things. Love endures all things. Love never ends...

What is love? Celebrated artist Wendy Anderson Halperin answers this age-old question by by complementing a well-known New Testament passage with her own intricate watercolor illustrations. The result is a dazzling, one-of-a-kind picture book where each glorious spread celebrates a trait upon which love is built. It's a book readers everywhere will adore!

Publishers Weekly

Halperin combines Paul's words (from I Corinthians 13) with an intricate mosaic of watercolor-and-pencil vignettes "to create a memorable, thoughtful picture book," wrote PW in a starred review. All ages. (Jan.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Adapting the apostle Paul's definitions of love in I Corinthians 13, Halperin (Hunting the White Cow) combines Paul's words with an intricate mosaic of watercolor-and-pencil vignettes to create a memorable, unusually thoughtful picture book. A simple line of text (e.g., "Love is... patient. Love is kind") runs across the bottom of each spread; above, Halperin's artwork appears in small, carefully arranged panels, akin to the pieces of a stained glass window. On each left-hand page, her panels depict people acting without love (ballplayers bicker; a pedestrian ignores a homeless man). The right-hand pages show the same people performing acts of kindness, touched by the joy love brings (a child stands at bat, a woman delivers meals-on-wheels). Other interpretations are more subtle. A panel on the spread illustrating "Love... does not insist on its own way" follows the metamorphosis of egg to caterpillar to butterfly; the spread for "Love... believes all things" is bordered by a row of crayons, pictures of seed packets, tools ranging from microscope to eggbeaters, and musical instruments. Some panels are reserved for continuing stories: as the pages progress, a house on the left becomes increasingly dilapidated, while on the right a sculptor transforms a block of marble into an enduring work of art (it's Michelangelo and his David). Those who pore over the pictures (and readers will want to) will find references to Aesop, Cinderella, the Three Little Pigs and more. With her thought-provoking, insightful visual examples, Halperin does an outstanding job of relating biblical text to contemporary, everyday life. All ages. (Jan.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Children's Literature

The text is adapted from I Corinthians 13:2 of the New Testament, basically with a line describing what love is on each two-page spread. For example, "Love...is patient. Love is kind," runs across the bottom of the pages, the left side of which shows scenes of impatience or unkindness, while the right shows the opposite. The pages are compartmentalized to house the myriad, finely wrought, naturalistic colored drawings. A sequence of eight small rectangles describes the life cycle of a butterfly. Twin arcs contrast arguing people with friendly ones. Other sections are scenes which evolve from page to page, each telling an individual story. Fairy and folk tale characters turn up in unexpected places. There are hours of intriguing searches waiting for readers as the artist offers choices for exemplifying the timeless, moralistic text. Halperin adds notes about her illustrations and her adaptation of that text. 2001, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, $16.00. Ages 4 up. Reviewer: Ken Marantz and Sylvia Marantz

School Library Journal

K-Gr 3-This freely translated version of I Corinthians 13:4-8 captures the meaning and spirit of the verses while simplifying the language to suit young children. The book has a large, busy, decorative format. The Bible quotation marches across the bottom of each double-page spread in capital letters: "Love-Is Patient. Love Is Kind" or "Love-Is Not Envious Or Boastful." Above the text, a series of appealing, sketchy, softly colored pencil-and-watercolor pictures illustrates each statement. The imaginative scenes, in a variety of sizes, feature multiethnic children and adults, and occasionally anthropomorphic animals. Characters on the left side are shown taking part in unloving incidents (behaving impatiently, boastfully, snobbishly, selfishly, destructively, and so on), while on the right, the same figures approach similar incidents with loving and caring behavior (being kind, generous, forbearing, truthful, etc.). The settings reflect various places and times in history. They are filled with interesting details to challenge young readers to discover all of the examples of right and wrong and then to apply the knowledge to their own lives. By no means limited to religious education, these precepts are universally valid.-Patricia Pearl Dole, formerly at First Presbyterian School, Martinsville, VA Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.