Saint Francis Assisi Messeng Graphic

This graphic novel is incredible. Picanyol's illustrations are perfectly clear, vibrant, and full of emotion. Matas's writing is economic and effective. The marriage of the two renders a heart wrenching tale of a truly incredible human being whose dedication to his mission inspires awe and admiration. Not just anybody can be canonized a saint. It requires one to break out of the mold of societal expectations, and dedicate one's life to selflessness. And this book really puts that monumental task into perspective. While reading I honestly felt like Francis was insane and a fanatic. His unwavering commitment to Jesus's teachings are terrifying to me. Concepts such as living a life of poverty and enduring suffering with patience based on the belief that you will be rewarded in heaven after death are the very essence of the Catholic faith that make it so difficult to believe. But regardless of whether or not you are a believer, St. Francis is an exceptional role model with his valuable mindsets and acts charity that make this story a worthy read. And if you ponder such things as purpose and self-improvement, then this book may even bring you to tears as it did for me!

First off I will say that the premise of this book is great. The quality of illustrations is great for the age (minus the content but I will get to that later). I am normally more positive about children's books, especially in this genre, but I regret buying this.The storys are set up like a comic strip where the characters have speech bubbles. I find this layout ineffective, and annoying.The big caveat is the content and writing is not for a child. My son has a huge vocabulary and at 5 years old, he would prolly test for about a 5th grade level of vocab, but I had to change tons of the words in this book for him to understand them. Normally I would just explain the words but there was just too many of them and the story would barely make sense because so many words were words that are not in typical use.Then there is the issue of the content....yes, I know there is a lot of controversial stuff in the bible and the lives of martyrs but when you present these things to young kids, there needs to be a certain filter. My son cried so hard after we read the story of how Francis got the stigmata. He was so afraid he would get them. He had nightmares. I would not recommend this book for anyone under the age of 12 based on the lack of a content filter.

Nice book. My kids love all of the comic book type books and they can learn about a great saint at the same time. Happy with purchase.

I absolutely love this book (and series). My son is learning so much about the saints through this author and illustrator! He comes to me with facts that I wasn't even aware of. He has read it a few times and never seems to grow tired of the books. Thank you!

We really enjoy this book.

Excellent way to teach children to care about each other, and about all living creatures, beautiful illustrations…

😀

Good for older kids, maybe 8+ years old.