"Noah's Ark"--a book written and illustrated by Jerry Pinkney

     Pinkney has adapted the story of Noah and the Ark into a beautifully illustrated children's book which has become a Caldecott Honor Book.  Noah's story is one known by many.  He is called by God to build a great wooden ship or ark to house his family and a pair of each animal that exists in the world.  The other people of the world have turned to wickedness, but since Noah's family have been obediant to God, they are allowed to live.  Pinkney's beautiful paintings of Noah and his family building the ark and preparing for the flood provide detail and give young readers a visual image of how massive an undertaking it was to build such a ship and gather the multitude of animals to be saved.  Pinkney's illustration of the rains falling and the waters rising bring to life the reality of the destruction that took place.  The rain seems to be falling in sheets, lighting is flashing, and the water swirls up around the ark while in the distance a small town seems to be swallowed up by the rising water.  My favorite illustration is where the water level has risen well over the cities and Pinkney takes the reader underwater to see whales swimming through the streets and fish darting in and out of windows.  The bottom of the Ark floats high above all the destruction as nothing but fish view it's passage.  In the end, when the dove makes its way back with the olive branch proving that the water has receded, it is surrounded by a golden light.  Whales are in the background jumping to the surface as if to help celebrate that Noah and his family will once again be able to be back on land soon.  Pinkney has created a beautiful painting of the animals being released from the Ark.  Noah is in the center while owls and other birds fly into the sky and animals of every variety leap and bound out of the doors.  The last illustration of the book is of the whole Earth looped with rainbows as a sign of God's promise to never destroy the Earth by water again. 
     I enjoyed reading this version of Noah's Ark so well, that I brought it home for my children to read as well.  The illustrations are impecable and really do bring every detail to life.  Pinkney has adapted many other stories and has illustrated them.  The Ugly Duckling is one such story.  Again, his illustrations depict the struggle of the small duckling who doesn't quite fit in.  As in Noah's Ark, a bright, golden light envelops the bird in the end, showing all of it's glorious beauty as a swan.  Other works by Pinkney include John Henry, The Talking Eggs, and The Mouse and the Lion.  He has won many awards for his works in children's literature.