Let There Be Light

by Desmond Tutu, Nancy Tillman (Illustrator)

Overview

Let There Be Light combines the extraordinary talents of Nancy Tillman, the New York Times bestselling author of On the Night You Were Born, and Nobel Peace Prize Winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu in this retelling of the biblical story of creation. The pairing of Archbishop Tutu’s lyrical text from The Children of God Storybook Bible and Tillman’s wondrous illustrations bring the pages of this board book to life for readers young and old.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780310733966
Publisher:	Zonderkidz
Publication date:	12/02/2014
Pages:	30
Product dimensions:	6.50(w) x 6.50(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	3 Months to 4 Years

About the Author

Archbishop Desmond Tutu was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 for his lifelong struggle to bring equality, justice, and peace to his native country of South Africa. He is the author of numerous books including the Children of God Storybook Bible, God's Dream, and Desmond and the Very Mean Word. From 2007 to 2013, Tutu was the founding Chair of theElders, a group of global leaders who are working topromote the shared interests of humanity. In 2013he received the Templeton Prize for advancing spiritualprogress in the world. He lives in South Africa withhis wife, Leah. They have four children and sevengrandchildren.

Editorial Reviews

Let There Be Light combines the text of “The Creation” from Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s Children of God Storybook Bible with illustrations by Nancy Tillman in this picture book introduction to Genesis. Nancy Tillman’s magnificent images show a God of light and love and a world of life and beauty alongside Archbishop Tutu’s chosen scripture. The realistic animal pictures seem almost like photographs, set against a fantastical backdrop of the earth and sky. Tillman portrays a group of multi-ethnic children as the receivers and custodians of God’s creation; readers of her previous book The Crown on Your Head will be familiar with her style of depicting the children with shimmering crowns. There are introductory notes from the author and illustrator, as well as a sweetly illustrated page for inscription, which adds to the book’s appeal as a meaningful gift and keepsake. Let There Be Light delivers just the right balance of tenderness, imagination, and wonder. Young readers will be enchanted by the bright illustrations and exaggerated colors as they read or hear about each day of God’s marvelous handiwork and the culminating message: “You are loved.

Christian Library Journal

2013-11-02
Abstract washes of light give way to equally lambent peaceable-kingdom scenes to illustrate Tutu's rhapsodic retelling of the Bible creation story. Drawn from his Children of God Storybook Bible (2010), the author's simply phrased text highlights God's love—which "bubbled over when there was nothing else"—as the motivating force behind each day's acts of creation. The indistinct shape of a robed, standing figure can be discerned within the initial burst of radiance and also in later illustrations amid clouds and waves, at the heart of a flower and in the subtly modulated colors of various skies. Along with showers of sparkles in some scenes, Tillman recycles a visual element from her own The Crown on Your Head (2011) by clapping shiny crowns atop the heads of a racially diverse group of smiling children in the final illustrations. Further piling on the sentimentality, she transforms the magnificent, exactly detailed elephants, lions and other animals that pose grandly in earlier pictures to toylike figures at the children's feet. "Isn't it wonderful!" concludes God, clapping his hands. Yes, but here the wonder comes with a generous coating of goo. (Religion/picture book. 6-8)

Kirkus Reviews