All Things Bright and Beautiful

by Cecil Frances Alexander, Bruce Whatley (Illustrator)

Overview

All Things Bright and Beautiful is one of the most beloved hymns ever written.

Cecil Frances Alexander's timeless ode to nature calls everyone to celebrate the wonders of life, great and small, seen and unseen. Now Bruce Whatley offers a fresh interpretation of this classic for the whole family to enjoy. Through his lush paintings, we join a little girl's country ramble and share her appreciation of the beauty around her: a flower, the wind, a mountain view, all gives her reasons to pause and praise, and inspire us to do the same.

Ages 2+

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780060266172
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	09/18/2001
Edition description:	1 ED
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	10.00(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.33(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Cecil Frances Alexander was born in Ireland. She began writing poetry as a child and wrote nearly 400 hymns. She wrote All things Bright and Beautiful, one of her most popular, to help explain to children the opening words of the Apostles' Creed, a Christian statement of belief. The wife of an archbishop, she was known to be a generous woman who cared for the poor and opened a school for the deaf with her sister.

Bruce Whatley is one of Australia's most highly regarded and talented authors and illustrators for children, both here and internationally. Bruce started his working life in advertising as an art director and illustrator and since then he has created over sixty picture books. Many of his books have won awards both in Australia and overseas, including The Ugliest Dog in the World, Looking for Crabs, Tails from Grandad’s Attic, and Detective Donut and the Wild Goose Chase. 

Bruce has cowritten a number of award-winning books with his wife, Rosie Smith (Whatley’s Quest, Detective Donut and the Wild Goose Chase and Little White Dogs Can’t Jump), and his son Ben Smith Whatley (Zoobots).

In 2002, Bruce paired with author Jackie French and illustrated Diary of a Wombat—an iconic picture book that has become an international bestseller with foreign sales to nine territories. Diary of a Wombat was the start of an extraordinary artistic collaboration that sparked the publication of Pete the Sheep, Josephine Wants to Dance, Shaggy Gully Times, Baby Wombat’s Week, Christmas Wombat, and Wombat Goes to School, plus two delightful books about Queen Victoria, being Queen Victoria’s Underpants and Queen Victoria’s Christmas.

One of the most remarkable aspects of Bruce’s talent is the breadth of his artistic ability, which includes an appealing cartoon style to realistic representations using mediums ranging from colored pencils, watercolor, acrylic and oils, and, more recently, 3D digital software. 

And accompanying that talent is an intellectual depth and curiosity that sees Bruce taking on large and complex projects, such as The Beach They Called Gallipoli, which was cocreated with Jackie French and was published in 2014 to coincide with the centenary of WW1.

In 2008, Bruce completed his PhD, titled Left Hand Right Hand: implications of ambidextrous image making. In his thesis, Bruce looked at the image making of the non-dominant hand, making the fascinating discovery that in most people the ability to draw lies in the use of the "other" hand.

Editorial Reviews

... colorful, whimsical, bushy-haired people and angels... docile animals... —Christianity and the Arts

Jeanette Hardage

... beautifully illustrated, profoundly told and would be a joy to read to a beloved child. —Southwestern Episcopalian

Pam Woegandt

Bright and beautiful watercolor illustrations and a large format with a thoughtful design combine to bring new life to the old words of this familiar hymn written in 1848. The rhyming text attributes everything under the sun to God's creation, from "all creatures great and small" to the tallest mountain, and from the general (the wind, the seasons) to the specific (each little bird and each ripe fruit). The cheerful illustrations on double-page spreads contain a central panel that specifically illustrates the relevant text surrounded by a large border that includes related flowers, trees, and wildlife. A sister and brother pair and their spotted dog are shown in each central panel, while a pair of mice provides a continuous thread in the borders throughout. The large, luminous illustrations make this an ideal choice for reading aloud to a group, and the short, simple text could also be sung, though the music for the hymn is not included. (Picture book/nonfiction. 3-7)

Kirkus Reviews