Saint Francis of Assisi

The story of St. Francis of Assisi—the Catholic saint who gave up everything to honor all life on Earth—retold by human rights crusader and public servant Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

He adopted the life of an itinerant preacher and made it his mission to teach about the sanctity of all life on Earth, becoming an advocate of animal rights and environmentalism in a time when even human life often had little value. He gave up all of his wealth and earthly possessions, and turned away from his life of privilege to live with the outcasts in his society.

Saint Francis of Assisi is the patron saint of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.—a father; a devout Roman Catholic; a crusader for clean air and water; an advocate for public health; and a member of a family famous for its dedication to the American people. Kennedy has chosen to retell this saint's classic tales hoping to teach its important messages to children around the world.

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is a New York Times bestselling author and one of the nation’s leading environmental activists. He is past president of Waterkeeper Alliance, the world’s largest clean water advocacy group; founder of the Pace University Environmental Litigation Clinic; a former Senior Attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council; and a former Assistant District Attorney in Manhattan. He also is founder of Children’s Health Defense, a nonprofit global advocacy group. He has written three children’s books and many books for adults, including the New York Times bestsellers Crimes Against Nature, The Riverkeepers, and The Real Anthony Fauci. Mr. Kennedy was named one of TIME magazine’s “Heroes for the Planet” for his success helping Riverkeeper lead the fight to restore the Hudson River. Kennedy is a master falconer and former president of the New York State Falconry Association.

"Grade 1–4–Kennedy's passion for nature and lifelong connection to this saint are evident in both the narrative and introduction, in which he reveals his personal convictions. The book paints Francis in glowing terms (with some fictionalized dialogue), weaving together the major threads of his life: his early kindness to beggars in his family's fabric shop; his call to and ultimate rejection of a military career; his estrangement from his wealthy father; and his ministry to lepers, the impoverished, and animals. The famous prayer, "Lord, make me an instrument of Your Peace…," is printed across the bottom of the pages. Nolan's oil paintings render realistic figures in carefully staged scenes. The architecture and landscape of Assisi are accurately captured, although the New Age angel depicted at the conclusion is anachronistic. While much of the information overlaps with that found in Guido Visconti's Clare and Francis (Eerdmans, 2004), the telling and aesthetic are quite different; the books will appeal to vastly different audiences." —School Library Journal

"Gr. 2-4. Sharing the middle name of Francis with his father, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. felt especially close to St. Francis while growing up, and the gentle saint continues to play an important part in his personal and family life. Here Kennedy offers a straightforward telling of Francis' life that, nonetheless, seems imbued with the splendor of the saint's mission. As Kennedy notes in his introduction, Francis' life was so full that not everything about it could be included. But his well-told biography, which introduces Francis as a frivolous yet charming King of Youth and follows him to his welcoming "Sister Death," also describes incidents such as Francis' reconciliation with the wolf of Grubbio and his relationship with St. Clare, who started an order of nuns similar to the Franciscan brothers' order. The book is illustrated with full-page, realistic paintings, which, while technically adept, have little sense of wonder or mystery. It's the words (including Francis' Canticle of the Sun on the back cover) that paint the pictures in this book." —Booklist