Patrick: Patron Saint of Ireland

Fans of the prolific dePaola's heartfelt celebrations of religious themes will welcome this handsome picture-book biography. His signature style is well showcased here and, as he did in The Lady of Guadalupe , dePaola effectively integrates both the tones and design elements of (in this case) Celtic art into his renderings. As with his pictorial biography Francis: The Poor Man of Assisi , dePaola succeeds in placing a near-mythic religious figure within a historic context and successfully relates the familiar and not-so-familiar details of his life: Patrick was of British (although when it was a part of the Holy Roman Empire), not Celtic, ancestry; March 17 is the date of his death, not of his birth. Readers will particularly enjoy the addition of five legends about St. Patrick, including the snakes and the shamrock. This well-designed entry has perennial appeal. Ages 4-8. (Mar.)

Copyright 1992 Publishers Weekly, Used with permission.

"Fans of the prolific dePaola's heartfelt celebrations of religious themes will welcome this handsome picture-book biography. His signature style is well showcased here and, as he did in The Lady of Guadalupe, dePaola effectively integrates both the tones and design elements of (in this case) Celtic art into his renderings. . . . Readers will particularly enjoy the addition of five legends about St. Patrick, including the snakes and the shamrock. This well-designed entry has perennial appeal."—Publishers Weekly

"DePaola's rich colors are somewhat muted here, and beautifully balanced; the whole effect is decorative, reverent, and serene. Five legends appear at the end, each succinctly stated and with a single illustration—a good way to differentiate between the historical and the apocryphal. An excellent contribution."—Kirkus Reviews

"The colors are rich and warm, and the gestures and expressions speak of elemental drama, exaggerated and yet formalized, and with occasional playful detail. . . . In a final cheerful note, dePaola remembers himself as a young child seeing a 'very colorful statue' of Saint Patrick and the snakes when his Irish maternal grandfather took him to church in Connecticut. The joy of those memories can be felt in this picture book." —Booklist