Customer Reviews

Clare and Francis

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This is one of the most beautifully illustrated children's books I've ever seen and I've been a librarian for over 30 years. Few books bring tears to my eyes and this did. A treasure!

This is the most gorgeous children's books I've ever seen--the illustrations are rendered like classic iconography. The text is decent as well, though the real reason to have this book is not to read it but to look at it.

Clare And Francis by Guido Visconti is an incredible, beautifully illustrated picture book about the lives of both Francis and Clare, two people who were born in Assisi, Italy around the year 1200. Although both Francis and Clare were born into wealthy families, both of them deliberately chose to live lives of dedicated poverty. Francis preached to people throughout towns and villages, while Clare cared for the sick in the convent of San Damiano. Both Francis and Clare wholeheartedly embraced spirituality and Christian faith, and their lives set an example in the Middle Ages that is remembered down to this very day. Stunning, colorful illustrations by Bimba Landmann in an offshoot of medieval painting style help make Clare And Francis an unforgettable biographical portrait, one which is meant to be treasured and shared between readers of all ages and generations.

I agree with all that has been said about the pictures in this book from the professional and reader reviews. The reading is easy and I am sure that children will enjoy having it read to them and third or fourth graders will enjoy reading it for themselves. But given the beauty of the pictures, even those older than 9 years will enjoy this book. It starts with a short summary of Francis' and Clare's lives told by 24 small pictures on two pages, each with one or two sentence explanations. Having read several other books on Saint Francis of Assisi, I read the book with the question in my mind, "What is the basic theme or message of Saint Francis life that the author is trying to convey in what she includes, emphasizes or minimizes?" I would say that it is this: that Saint Francis, who always gave to the poor even in his care free days, loved God and, as a result, the poor, the animals, those with little and those with much power in his day, and even his enemies in foreign lands. Francis loved them with God's love. And God's love revealed through Francis for others drew them: women, such Clare, his old neighbors, the poor and even the animals to God. It is not surprising to learn that the author of this wonderful story, while born in Italy, and after receiving a degree in Literature and Philosophy is now, with his wife, directing a village school in India.

Agreed that this is probably the most beautiful children's book ever. For that alone, it's worth buying. There are many, many stories about St. Francis of Assisi (not so many about St. Clare) but this one stands heads and shoulders above the rest!

A beautiful children's book which I gave to my grandchildren at Christmas. I also showed them photos that we took of Assisi where Clare and Francis lived.