Claire and the Cathedral

Genres: Arts, Inspiration
Format: Picture Book Fiction
three-stars

Claire and the Cathedral

Author/ Illustrator: Pam Fong

This is a wordless grayscale picture book, with pops of rainbow colors, for ages 4-8 about a young girl named Claire. When her mother takes her to a cathedral on a rainy day, she is initially quite bored.   Then a brief ray of light shines through a stained-glass window and brings color and wonder back into Claire’s gray world. Soon she realizes there are rainbows all around her, if she looks closely.

This book encourages readers to find unexpected beauty in a dreary rainy day. It also highlights the uplifting power of generosity and the connection of parent and child.

Accessible to children of all ages, literacy levels, and languages, it encourages readers to tell the story in their own words.  The illustrations are the highlight of the book, but the setting may be largely unrelatable and foreign to a large group of readers. 

3 stars

 Reviewed by: Lindsey Hopkins, Jay-Niles Memorial Library, Jay

three-stars