Celebrated picture-book author/illustrator Tomie dePaola turns to the Biblical story of Esther in this lovely little picture-book. Simple text is paired with dePaola's trademark illustrations, as the narrative follows Esther as she is chosen as the Persian King Ahasuerus' new queen. Secretly Jewish, Esther must take her courage in her hands when her people are threatened by the machinations of the evil Haman, one of her husband's advisors...

The Jewish holiday of Purim, which commemorates the bravery of Esther and the defeat of Haman, is around the corner, and I have been looking for new (or new to me) children's books to read in honor of the occasion. I have read two other picture-book retellings of the Esther story - Mordicai Gerstein's Queen Esther the Morning Star and Miriam Chaikin's Esther - but was curious to see what dePaola would do with it. On the whole I enjoyed Queen Esther, finding the narrative engaging and the artwork lovely. There were elements of the story that were simplified - Haman starts hating Jews because he hates Mordicai, for instance, rather than him having a preexisting grudge, due to the conflicts between the Hebrews and his own people, the Amalekites - but no doubt this was done to make the tale more readable for younger children. Although I think I prefer the Chaikin retelling to this one, I do recommend this to picture-book readers looking for retellings of the Esther tale, particularly if they are fans of Tomie dePaola's artwork. ( )