It's a beautiful book to look at; Daniel Nevins's paintings are lively and provocative…it would have been nice, growing up, to have a volume like With a Mighty Hand : visually pleasing and stripped of confusing matter that could threaten any child's understanding, attention span and ultimate captivation. With a Mighty Hand is a great transitional Torah—something between an illustrated book of Bible stories for children and the full heft of the actual Five Books of Moses, still told in its own words, on its own terms, making what was once intimidating palatable.
The New York Times Book Review - Taffy Brodesser-Akner
In this concise and engaging adaptation of the Hebrew Bible, Ehrlich takes the Five Books of Moses and squeezes the essential portions into a comparatively slim volume. Beginning with the story of Creation and continuing through Moses’ death at the end of Deuteronomy, Ehrlich (The Girl Who Wanted to Dance) takes portions of the Torah and summarizes them, using biblical language and cadence. Paintings by Nevins, illustrating his first book, accompany the story, and his saturated colors and flat forms make the paintings appropriately sacral and dreamy. Although Genesis and Exodus are recounted in significant detail, the entire book of Leviticus, which deals with the priestly offerings, consists of only 10 pages, and the last two books are also communicated in few pages. Ehrlich’s gift-friendly abridgment will appeal to readers interested in learning the Bible’s story without the interest or patience to wade through its complexity, or who may prefer to contemplate the striking art. All ages. Author’s agent: Joe Spieler, the Spieler Agency. (Aug.)
[A] beautiful book to look at: Daniel Nevins's paintings are lively and provocative. I've never seen a more arresting manifestation of Jacob's all-night wrestling match; I looked at the rainbow illustration of the burning bush for a full minute before turning the page. ... [I]t would have been nice, growing up, to have a volume like 'With a Mighty Hand': visually pleasing and stripped of confusing matter that could threaten any child's understanding, attention span and ultimate captivation. 'With a Mighty Hand' is a great transitional Torah — something between an illustrated book of Bible stories for children and the full heft of the actual Five Books of Moses, still told in its own words, on its own terms, making what was once intimidating palatable.
★ 10/01/2013
"Anyone who reads the Torah will see that a lot of it doesn't make sense," Ehrlich writes in her introduction. "It is repetitive, inconsistent, even contradictory." Oddly enough, though, a writer who's skeptical about the Bible turns out to be the perfect person to translate it. This Bible begins: "At the beginning, the earth was wild and empty…." She's changed the traditional phrasing just enough that some readers will find it more approachable, and others will find it surprising and unfamiliar. She describes Moses' basket as "a little ark of papyrus," reminding readers of how much danger the baby was in, floating in the middle of the Nile. Nevins' paintings may also change the way people think about the text. When Jacob wrestles an angel, the two of them look almost like one being. The pictures seem to be painted with more colors than exist in nature. They glow. Not every word of the Bible has been included, the text having been pared down to a series of interconnected stories. The book of Numbers is suddenly much shorter and much sadder, consisting of a sobering numbering of the dead. Even readers who are not at all skeptical about the Bible may find that they need this version; it's so beautiful and new. Ehrlich's transcendent verse translation renders these familiar stories as shocking, perplexing and remarkably compelling--just as they always have been. (map, genealogy, endnotes) (Religion. 7-18)
Author Amy Ehrlich presents a retelling of the five books of the Torah in this children’s adaptation. Far from simplifying the story, Ehrlich attempts to create a seamless narrative without adding or taking away from the original. Narrators Kate Udall and Francis J Spieler stay true to this goal. However, while their narrations are engaging and expertly paced, both choose gravity over the flourishes normally found in audiobooks for children. The two narrators alternate chapters, and each reads the biblical names and places flawlessly, allowing the listener to focus on the story itself. The only thing missing from this wonderful adaptation are the maps and illustrations by Daniel Nevins. E.N. © AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine
