Noah's Ark (Spier book)

Noah's Ark is a children's picture book written and illustrated by Peter Spier, first published by Doubleday in 1977. The text includes Spier's translation of "The Flood" by Jacobus Revius, a 17th-century poem telling the Bible story of Noah's Ark. According to Kirkus Reviews, the poem comprises sixty three-syllable lines such as "Pair by pair" (in translation). "Without revising or even enlarging on the old story, Spier fills it in, delightfully."[1] In a retrospective essay about the Caldecott Medal-winning books from 1976 to 1985, Barbara Bader described the book as "at once elaborate and feeble" and Revius' poem as "neither particularly suited to children nor eloquent in itself."[2]

Noah's Ark
Front cover of unknown edition
AuthorPeter Spier
IllustratorPeter Spier
Cover artistPeter Spier
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
GenreChildren's picture book
PublisherDoubleday
Publication date
1977
Media typePrint (hardback & paperback)
Pages46 pp
ISBN0-385-12730-8
OCLC2524624
222/.1109505
LC ClassBS1238.N6 S64

For Noah's Ark Spier won the 1978 Caldecott Medal for illustration[3] and the 1982 National Book Award for Children's Books in category Picture Books (paperback).[4][a]

Notes edit

  1. ^ Picture books were separately recognized for only two years in National Book Awards history, paperbacks for four years. Most of the paperback award-winners were reprints.

References edit

  1. ^ "Noah's Ark (Book) by Peter Spier, Jacob Revius". Google product presentation with quotation from Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved 2012-02-22.
  2. ^ Bader, Barbara (1986). "The Caldecott Spectrum". In Kingman, Lee (ed.). Newbery and Caldecott Medal Books 1976-1985. Boston: The Horn Book, Incorporated. pp. 288–289. ISBN 0-87675-004-8.
  3. ^ "Caldecott Medal Winners, 1938 - Present". American Library Association. Retrieved 2009-05-27.
  4. ^ "National Book Awards – 1982". National Book Foundation. Retrieved 2012-02-22.
Awards
Preceded by Caldecott Medal recipient
1978
Succeeded by