NOAH AND THE GREAT FLOOD

From God's grim decision to the rainbow at the end, Hutton tells Noah's story straight, and his watercolor illustrations are similarly lacking in the playful variations of most Ark picture books--a valid direction, but unfortunately Hutton doesn't compensate with any fundamental strength or drama. Though his long views of the ark, especially afloat, have an effective changing perspective that keeps it moving, his bland, unindividualized--and unoccupied--people and animals give the whole experience a slack and tepid quality that smacks of Sunday Bible Class.