Saint Francis

Renowned illustrator Wildsmith has turned his considerable talents to the life of the 12th-century Christian monk who renounced an affluent lifestyle and took to the streets, restoring ruined churches and preaching to animals (including human ones). Children and adults alike will delight in that story and in these colorful, detailed illustrations, each page appropriately framed in gold. The clean and intricate style of the drawings, suggestive of a gloriously enhanced Waldo book (complete with an angel to track), provides a visual feast for individual or communal meditation. The text itself requires some explanation, but in this handsome volume that will prove no chore for adults. A gorgeous book and an ideal gift, Francis teaches all of us the beauty of both the natural and the spiritual world. Ages 4-up. (Feb.)