Todd L. W. Doney

A lyrically told and beautifully illustrated story of Ciaran, a kind, gentle hermit saint who connected with animals, a precursor to 13th century St. Francis of Assisi. Badger, Deer, Hawk, Dove, Boar, Fox, and Wolf were his first brothers and sisters. Ciaran was encouraged by Patrick in Rome and ordained a bishop around 538, but returned to Ireland to live as a hermit among the animals, attracting people to his hermitage at the spring of Saighir in County Offaly, where a church was later built. In the Author's Note, Mr. Schmidt writes: Of all green Ireland's saints, Ciaran of Saighir was the first.… (más)

I understand that there are no less than twenty-five St. Ciarans in the Irish tradition, although previous to this book, the only one with which I was familiar was the Saint Ciaran who founded the abbey at Clonmacnoise. This lovely picture book however, presents a legend related to the first Saint Ciaran, Ciarán of Saighir.

Little is known of the historical Ciaran, other than that he was born on Cape Clear Island in the sixth century, and that he is believed to be the first Christian bishop to reach Ireland (sent by St. Patrick, who was to follow him). Schmidt's book is less of a picture-biography than a folk-legend, particularly as it concerns Ciaran's relationship with the animals who flocked to his hermitage.

The writing is competent, with an occasional turn of phrase that is worthy of remembrance. I did spot a few anachronisms, as when the narrative refers to Ciaran's hermitage crumbling, as "stones fell from their mortared places." Hard to imagine, when all the early monastic buildings were dry-stone construction, something that is accurately depicted in the illustrations. Still, these are minor flaws in an otherwise engaging story.… (más)

I had great hopes for "Old Salt, Young Salt". The Bodega Bay setting and the fact that it was a picture book about fishing made it seem like a good bet for my "Agriculture of California" books. Besides, I enjoyed some of Jonathan London books that I have read in the past ("The Eyes of Gray Wolf" and "Hurricane") However, this book just didn't cut it for me. In the story, a boy and his (formerly in the navy) dad go out fishing. The boy gets sulky because the dad wouldn't let his son help carry the boat into the water. The dad barfs when the boat becomes too rocky because the two are trying to get away from a gray whale. After the boy catches a chinook salmon (once again with no help from the bumbling dad) the "Old Salt" allows the "Young Salt" to steer the boat into shore. The fact that the dad was seasick became the focal point of this story, not the act of fishing. The double-page pictures by Todd Doney were beautiful...realistic, large and very BLUE, just like the Pacific Ocean.… (más)