十二世纪末，生于意大利亚西西的方济（Francis of Assisi），至数百年之后仍被公认为对世界极富影响的世纪风云人物。他称呼太阳、风、火为兄弟，月亮、星辰、水为自己的姐妹，称大地为母亲。圣方济用心灵的眼睛看到万物间的光明、美丽、强健和滋养力；圣方济认为万物都是人类的兄弟姊妹。的确，在我们生活的环境里，各个物种息息相关，彼此影响，面对大自然，学习尊重、珍惜和感谢，都是很重要的课题。

本书由获得纽伯瑞奖殊荣的**小说家Katherine Paterson改编，绘图则是由从事剪纸艺术超过25年的Pamela Dalton设计制作，每页插图都是由纸张裁剪、绘制而来；透过图画，更能了解书中所要传达的世界观

Katherine Paterson, daughter of missionaries, and wife of a minister, has always had a particular and ecumenical sensitivity to themes of the spiritual and to matters of religion. She has made these subjects accessible to a broad readership that spans generations. Her voice provides a deeply appropriate medium for us to hear Francis of Assisi's words anew. Pamela Dalton's remarkable gift is to infuse a decorative folk art with the emotional depth and richness of the finest children's book illustrations-combining the naivete of the old Amish technique of Scherenschnitte ('scissor cutting') with a highly trained, profoundly experienced painterly style. Her style perfectly matches the tone of Saint Francis' hymn: a balance of almost stark simplicity with a richly colored celebration of the multiplicity of life. Saint Francis' austere but loving message was radical and galvanizing in its time-founding a religious order that profoundly influenced the course of Western History. That message resonates ever more clearly today in an age of simultaneous excess and economic retrenchment.