Saints Among the Animals

What do a whatchful fly and a weight-bearing whale have in common? A grateful saint -- a saint whose life of work and devotion to God wouldn't have been the same without the loyalty. the friendship of a lion or a blackbird, an eagle or a deer. Other saints in these stories -- two of the liveliest are women -- deal cleverly with animals who act up: snakes in one instance, greedy geese in another. But in each of these stories, the commonality of all living things is luminously celebrated. The ten saints, whose biographies are given in the last pages, are named on the back of this jacket.

Cynthia Zarin is a staff writer at The New Yorker magazine and an Artist-in-Residence at the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in New York City.

She is the author of several books of poetry and four picture books for children: Rose and Sebastian; What Do You See When You Shut Your Eyes?; Wallace Hoskins, the Boy Who Grew Down; and Albert, the Dog Who Liked to Ride in Taxis. She lives with her family in Manhattan.

Leonid Gore moved to the US from his native Belarus in 1991. He has illustrated many beloved books for children and is also the author and illustrator of Danny’s First Snow. Mr. Gore lives in Oakland, New Jersey. Visit him online at LeonidGore.com.