Noah’s Ark: The Story of the Flood and After

by E. Boyd Smith

Let’s start spring with a book about a flood, THE flood.  Dover publications has combined E. Boyd Smith’s Noah’s Ark, originally published in 1905 and, After They Came Out of the Ark, originally published in 1918, in one volume. Imagine a really long family road trip with many unruly pets and you will have the tone of this wonderful book.  The family is  ready to board the ark, animals and supplies have been loaded but “Mrs. Noah was loath and rebelled: “For the domestic arrangements,” she said, ” are impossible.”

The story of Noah and his family calls for a  little humor, which Mr. Smith delivers  perfectly in this book. There is dignity in the language, appropriate for an Old Testament story, but many droll details in the carefully drawn illustrations.  Noah can be seen studying paint samples held up by a workman.  The boards on the ramp are buckling under the weight of several dinosaurs while Noah’s sons try unsuccessfully to load them.  Mrs. Noah holds her hands over her ears to drown out the sounds of a roaring lion. If a picture book can be a seamless melding of text and art, it couldn’t be done better than this.

Noah’s troubles are far from over after the Ark finally settles on dry land.  The meat- eating animals are hungry and don’t want to change to a vegetarian diet, even though Noah assures them that grass is very nourishing. The unhappy creatures continue to lurk around the Ark and are getting on Mrs. Noah’s nerves. When an earthquake terrifies the animals Mrs. Noah is heard saying ” There now, that ought to start them.”

This book would be a pleasure to read aloud, and the illustrations merit hours of study. For children age 6 and up.