Let a child find joy instead of solemnity in the familiar hymns and he will all the more readily learn to sing them—and will sing them.

With this as a premise, Opal Wheeler has selected a large group of the best known hymns of all denominations of the Christian Faith, and has made the simplest possible arrangements for their music. Then she has, whenever possible, learned the story behind each of these hymns—what prompted the composer, the poet. The result is a book at once deeply spiritual, yet so full of childlike gaiety and warm happiness that any child who loves to sing—and most children do—will be instantly drawn to it.

Marjorie Torrey's pictures have an almost breath-taking quality of beauty. Two tiny children stand on a high cliff, looking out to sea where the evening star hangs like a solitary lantern, a beacon and a promise. This illustrates Lead Kindly Light. A procession of red-cheeked, laughing children marching along a sunny, springtime road is the picture for Onward, Christian Soldiers. A little chap of five or thereabouts, with a shock of red hair, takes refuge from a thunder storm under an overhanging friendly crag on a mountainside, and so is told the story of Rock of Ages.

The beauty of text and illustration in Sing in Praise is difficult to describe, but a more nearly perfect baptismal or confirmation gift it would be hard to find; a more beautiful book of hymns to own for a "family book" it would be utterly impossible to find.

From the dust jacket