Love Is . . .

Subject of sonnets, songs, and soul searching, love is--and is not--many things. "Love is patient. Love is kind. Love is not envious or boastful. Love is not arrogant or rude." In her adaptation of I Corinthians 13, Wendy Anderson Halperin presents the elegantly simple definition of the word "love" the apostle Paul offered 2,000 years ago. She features one of Paul's definitions on each whimsically illustrated two-page spread. Pages are framed in an ornate yet homespun decorative pattern, and covered with divided boxes portraying the dearth of love's benefits on the left (sticking out your tongue, for example), and the bounty of love on the right (a fatherly kiss on the head). Halperin's detailed pencil and watercolor illustrations will provide something new to explore with every reading--dozens of picture stories-within-stories act as a starting point for discussion with children.

Halperin has illustrated many charming books for children, including Marsha Wilson Chall's Bonaparte and Sophie and Rose by Kathryn Lasky. (Ages 4 to 8, or a gift from adult to adult) --Emilie Coulter