Brother Sun, Sister Moon by Katherine Paterson

It would be good to match this text with pictures of the natural world in another book. The art, however, dominates this book visually and spatially. Literary elements at work in the story: Francis wrote this song in Umbrian, the language of the people, and Patterson’s expansion of the text maintains this accessibility as well as the poetic quality.

The original prayer is printed at the end and Patterson and Dalton comment on their work. The cut shapes are set on a background of black the text fits around, under, between the designs. Patterson has literary credentials to burn but this is a little like adding a few lines to the Mona Lisa! Still with her usual verbal clarity and grace, she enriches and illumines, almost a match for the illustrations. The more daring enterprise is Katherine Patterson’s who re-imagines the text. With scissors, water colors, and a single sheet of paper for each page, Dalton fashions an amazing world of variety and beauty. In Brother Sun, Sister Moon Pamela Dalton brings the text to life through Scherenschnitte (scissor cuts). “All Creatures of Our God and King,” written for a children’s choir festival c 1900, is the familiar paraphrase in most hymnbooks. Francis of Assisi in the last few years of his life, it is possibly the earliest piece of written literature in the Italian language.

Summary: “The Canticle of the Creatures” or “The Canticle of the Sun” (13 th Century) is one of the most familiar songs of praise in the world.

Brother Sun, Sister Moon by Katherine Paterson