Book Review

Title: The Lord Is My Shepherd

Author: (Illustrated by) Regolo Ricci

Publisher: Tundra Books

Website: www.tundrabooks.com

Released: October 9^th 2007

Pages: 24

ISBN - 10: 0887767761

ISBN-13: 978-0887767760

$22.95 CDN/$18.95 US

4 Stars

Reviewed By: Beverley Ann

The 23^rd Psalm is brought to life in Regolo Ricci's illustrated version of the verse. A lovely little book, The Lord Is My Shepherd, is a wonderful way to introduce the Psalms to children. Each line of the verse is illustrated with God's greatest creation; his earth and the animals that inhabit it. The Lord Is My Shepherd, illustrated by Ricci, also heralds back to the hymn All Things Bright and Beautiful, All Creatures Great & Small. Each picture reveals a characteristic of the line from the Psalm that it is paired with. My favourite example of this is the line ‘I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever,' which is a drawing of a stable, reminding us of Jesus' birthplace.

Each page is laced with a border that gently frames the larger image with detailing of leaves and flowers, and each of the four points of the page is sketched with a smaller animal, such as a squirrel or a bird. With so much illustrated images being cartoons now, Ricci's drawings herald back to the world of Peter Rabbit or even the intricate Unicorn tapestries at times. The murals are beautifully detailed and each animal, from the cows, to the horses, and the appropriately showcased sheep, seem expressive in their part of the story/verse. Each line of the verse is encased in a scroll with the first letter of every line ornately dressed and often surrounded by even smaller inhabitants of nature, such as butterflies and caterpillars. Ricci's colour palate is soft and muted but often a page can be flushed with colourings inspired by any one of the four seasons that makes the image seem unified and vibrant. Ricci has an usual way of drawing for this time in history, but at a glance you can easily see Ricci's heart is in the classical etchings of children's stories, where time has no relevancy.

The 23^rd Psalm is my favourite, so any book with this in it is top-notch in my eyes. Unbelievably so, Ricci is mostly self taught, and yet it is his craftsmanship that makes this a stunning collector's item. Tundra Books has acknowledged the efforts of Ricci as they aspired to elegantly showcase the work with a ribbon bookmark and even the inside of the sleeve is beautifully illustrated. The Lord Is My Shepherd would be ideal for Sunday schools, a perfect Christening gift, or a pleasant addition to any children's home library. It would also be worth the effort to be a collector of Ricci's books; his previous titles are Gogol's Coat, The Market Wedding and Mr. Dickens Hits Town.