The Story of Creation (NFS UK) by Jane Ray

by Jane E. Ray

A book to share and treasure, this is a true celebration of life. From the highly acclaimed illustrator of The Story of Christmas and Noah's Ark comes the tale of the Creation, the seven-day genesis of the earth and its inhabitants, as recounted in the King James Version of the Bible. Brilliant full-color pictures reveal each unfolding detail of God's plan.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Old Testament, Jewish, Christian

Paperback

First published October 1, 1992

About the author

Born in London, Jane studied art and design at Middlesex University. Her main study was ceramics and she didn't start to illustrate until she left college. Her first published work was a series of greetings cards for Roger la Borde, followed by some book jackets, and eventually black and white illustrations for a poetry anthology with Orchard Books.

Reviews

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely gorgeous picture book that tells the "Story of Creation" as it is recounted in Genesis. Jane Ray's artwork is splendid; I love the details and the way she builds from the "form without void" to the abundance of flora and fauna on the sixth day. The golden borders and the touches of gold throughout the illustrations add a very regal, special and glorious feel that is very appropriate for the story.

As my friend Chandra notes in her excellent review (http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...) though the text in Ray's book follows the King James Bible verses, it does deviate slightly. Some families may be upset about this change, whereas others will find it a useful teaching moment.

[J · Rating 2 out of 5]

Which Christian doesn't like the biblical Creation story of a loving Heavenly Father made this world, of how He ensured that every thing and living creature its place and what it means for us as a present in the whole? Who of that audience doesn't sometimes wish that they could return to the more simple period and see the beautiful simplistic times or at least what it may have been like?

Jane Ray does a great job in forming the beginning illustrations to accompany the first part of the Creation. But once she gets to adding all the components together and towards the end then the page just becomes too crowded while hard to get the full strength of the story. And so it decidedly dampened my like of the book.

Other contributing factors were the fact that the illustrator also chose to use a bit more Middle Age-type drawings for most of the warm-blooded animals, especially mammals. Although it can be nice to be portrayed in that type of art it seems like the underlying message was to emphasize the oldness of the story version that was being used. And furthermore although we know that Adam and Eve were naked this book does nothing to cover that up so it is not a book for young children for even though they don't show the bottom genitalia Eve's bosom is most definitely showing.

All in all it was decent but I am sure there are probably better versions out there for those looking....

[Jessica Kuzmier · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the Spanish translation of the book, and found the narration and illustrations to be delightful. The familiarity of Genesis 1 and the simplicity of the text made it an enjoyable lesson to refresh my knowledge of the Spanish language.

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a library book for us, but we kept going back to it over the time we had it. The illustrations are the draw here, obviously -- the text is straight King James. We really liked the detail in the illustrations -- abstract, but there's lots to discuss with the kids, the fish look like specific species of fish, same with the birds, and mammals and so on. in contrast to some who didn't like the choice of King James, we loved it. English is not my wife's first language, so it gave me a chance to explain some of the more antiquated or unusual words ("firmament" for example).

[Dotty · Rating 1 out of 5]

Hard to say I don't like a picture book, but here the author/illustrator used the words of Genesis 1 in the King James Version -- not exactly child friendly. The illustrations are beautiful, but they deserved better text.

[Miri Gifford · Rating 4 out of 5]

As told in the King James Bible, with gorgeous illustrations.

[Sally]

for the illustrations