Animals of the Bible

Animals of the Bible
Dorothy P. Lathrop with text selected by Helen Dean Fish from the King James Bible/ published 1937 by Harper Collins

Though I don't really read this to my son, he loves to obsess over the lavish illustrations depicting everything from a galloping woodland deer to Jonah swimming with the whale. I really like the fact that the author here chose to extract the animal elements out of the bible and collect them into this wonderful tome of psalms, stories and pencil drawings. Here's a little excerpt from the forward.

I have always thought it delightful that throughout the Book that is rich and exciting and satisfying above all others, animals so frequently play a part in the most dramatic and beautiful happenings and are often referred to with appreciation and gentleness. Daniel's lions, Balaam's ass, and even Eve's serpent are animals of dignity and importance, while the Behemoth and the Leviathan contemplated by Job are creatures to command both awe and admiration.

You don't have to be Christian, only a lover of children's books to appreciate the first EVER winner of the Randolph Caldecott Medal in 1938. Still in print after all these years, it is pretty special.