Tapestries: Stories of Women in the Bible

by Ruth Sanderson

An anthology of twenty-two stories highlights the bravery, cunning, and ingenuity of women within the Old and New Testaments, and each story is accompanied by lush illustrations portrayed as decorative tapestries.

Genres: Picture Books, Christian, Christianity, Childrens, Nonfiction

32 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1998

Reviews

[Set · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love it, I love it, I love it!!! Descriptions of the women of the bible and their important roles. These women include the beautiful, good, evil, killers, queens, witches, seductresses, spies, fair maidens, etc. My favorite is our Mother Mary.

[Amalie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mainly read this because I wanted to see Ruth Sanderson's art of the Biblical women from the Old and New Testaments. While the illustrations were really nice, the list is incomplete and some characters included here are puzzling. Except for that, this is a nice way to introduce Biblical women to children.

Women of the Old Testament: Eve, Sarah, Rebekah, Miriam, Rahab, Deborah, Jael, Ruth, Hannah, the Witch of Endor? who is this??, Abigail, Bathsheba, & the Queen of Sheba.

Eve:

Women of New Testament: Mary, Elizabeth, Anna, Mary & Martha, Procula? She is not an important character. She is hardly mentioned in the Bible, Mary Magdalene, Lydia, Priscilla, Pheobe, Tabitha.

Mary:

[Melody Schwarting · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tapestries reads a bit like an encyclopedia rather than a storybook. Some of the subjects just don't have a lot of information to build on, anyway. And some choices (like the Medium of Endor) are a bit odd. Yet, the illustrations are so beautiful that I can't help but love this. The details are amazing--the red egg on Mary Magdalene's page--and the tapestry look is delightful. While it's not a book to teach from, it is one to enjoy, to invite the imagination into reading the Scriptures.

[Beverly · Rating 5 out of 5]

The beautiful oil paintings in this book mimic woven tapestries, and illustrate not only the stories, but also form borders on most of the pages. The stories have been shortened and simplified from the original Biblical text, so that young children can understand them.

[Miss Clark · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was great to have a book about the women in the Bible and I enjoyed Sanderson's artwork as usual.

[Jessica Tracy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Illustrations are nice, but not my favorite work of Ruth Sanderson's. The story's are okay, but as with most paired down or summarized stories from the scriptures a little... adjusted in interpretation? While none were awful, I didn't think the story of any really did justice to the women portrayed. I wouldn't own this book or read it again, but I'm grateful I was able to read it from the library.

[Tiuri · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really appreciate all the work that went into making this.

[Miri Gifford · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really good collection of the Bible stories featuring women like Deborah, Rahab, Miriam, Bathsheba, Phoebe, and Mary Magdalene. The author/illustrator especially loves tapestries, so she tried to recreate their richness with oil paints. I don't know, I just really liked having all these stories together.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautiful book. The pictures are amazing! It's a great way to introduce the Women of the Bible to children!

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice addition to the realm of children's illustrated biblical reference books.

[Teri · Rating 3 out of 5]

OK--I think the stories would be better told in individual books.

[Christina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Twenty-three brief illustrated stories from the old and new testaments.

[Mckinley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely illustrations help depict each biograph.