Book Review: Saint John the Baptist by Ezekiel Saucedo

Saint John the Baptist: A Voice Crying Out in the Desert written and illustrated by Ezekiel Saucedo

The life of John the Baptist is recreated in graphic-novel form. The book covers all the bits from the gospels and adds a little bit of supplementary story taken from traditional apocryphal sources. The biblical story is familiar and well rendered in an attractive style. The extra bit comes after the birth of John. When King Herod sends his soldiers to wipe out the new-born messiah, Zechariah and Elizabeth flee with their son John (who is in the age group of Jesus) to the wilderness. They die when he is a youth and leave him with a lot of spiritual equipment that forms him spiritually. John evangelizes at the Jordan River, baptizes Jesus, and is captured by Herod's son against whom John had preached. The ultimate beheading of John is dealt with discreetly not gorily. The story ends with Jesus praising John as one who fulfilled his role in salvation history.

The author does a great job depicting John's life in an engaging and kid-friendly way. The dialog sounds natural and the art works very well. As an adult, I enjoyed this a lot and will get my kids to read it too.

Highly recommended.