NCR: St. Francis, Kurt Vonnegut and the radical absurdity of the Incarnation

My 19-month-old pointed toward his shelf of Christmas books, "Boke?" He wanted to pick another book for me to read to him before bed, which I assumed would be about another snowman, his new obsession. I sometimes try to talk him out of the snowman books, as if I'm the one who is supposed to be entertained. 

But this time he pointed to my favorite children's book, Sun Moon Star, written by one of my favorite authors, the late, great satirist Kurt Vonnegut.

Whereas most illustrators design their work after the author has written their story, this book had the opposite creative process. Renowned graphic designer Ivan Chermayeff first made the illustrations, then had Vonnegut write a story to fit the artwork, as if the author of Slaughterhouse-Five (or, my personal favorite, Breakfast of Champions) needed an outlet to be any weirder…

Finish reading the article here on the National Catholic Reporter's website.