I started a picture book at the lunch table today. I read the title. Turned the page. Read the title again.
Under the title this time was the dedications. Both author and illustrator dedicate their words and pictures to someone or ones.
As I’ve gotten more involved in the world of children’s books I’ve learned that a good illustrator is able to capture the heart of the words in an insightful and real way. They go together.
Often the pictures will even tell details of the story that the reader might not have known.
In a good picture book, the words and pictures are so closely aligned that if either were missing it wouldn’t be the same story.
There is no frustration as there can be when you read a book and then watch a movie and get disappointed because the image in your head was just ruined on the screen.
It’s just as it should be. The book we read at lunch was that way. Poignant, rich, beautiful, and though I’d only planned to read a fourth of it we couldn’t stop. We had to read it all.
Much more so the Word made flesh. Jesus came to illustrate God. So entwined that when we read about Jesus, we’re seeing God. It is a story so beautifully and perfectly illustrated there is a sigh in the soul. Yes. This fits. It’s as it should be.
God. Made flesh.
Illustrated in the baby Jesus. The man Jesus. The suffering Jesus. And the resurrected Jesus.
A story worth reading every day. A story worth considering every moment. A story worth sharing with everyone. A story worth celebrating all month long. All life long.
