The World Is Awake

Reviews

'Writing with poet Bottum, news correspondent Davis offers an endearing picture book that celebrates creation from a Christian perspective. Two African-American siblings begin their journey of appreciation and admiration by looking outside their living room window into a lush field filled with flowers, grasshoppers, and butterflies. The brother narrates as he and his sister head outdoors; his first-person rhymes sometimes strike adult, even preacherly notes ('The world is awake--it's a wonderful place,/ alive with God's power and glad with His grace'). Playful moments (including an animal parade at the zoo) keep the mood upbeat, and Fleming's jubilant illustrations offer plenty of visual stimulation--her use of rough, scribbly texture brings depth to scenes of the children in a windswept meadow, visiting the zoo and farmers market with their parents, and taking part in a family dinner that precedes bedtime rituals of praying and reading stories. Together this trio has created a joyous book that communicates the beauty in everything, reminding readers to appreciate ordinary events and occasions, as well as Earth's animals and other natural wonders.' -- Publishers Weekly

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