Who Are You, My Daughter? Reading Ruth Through Image and Text (Translation and Notes, Ellen F. Davis, Woodcuts, Margaret Adams Parker), Westminster John Knox Press, Louisville, Kentucky, 2003

Margaret Adams Parker, writing about the challenges of translating and illustrating a "beloved tale" from Scripture:

"…our challenge has been to explore the text, in Matisse’s phrase, "as it really is." Our readers will note immediately that we think the story is not the conventional romantic idyll depicted by many illustrators. The story contains elements that we recognize more readily from the nightly news than from the stock romantic tale: refugees and widows, the broken and the destitute, the foreigner. The tale is more correctly understood as one of suffering and loss redeemed by steadfast faithfulness. And while the story ends on a note of tender joy and hope for the future, it is neither carefree nor light."

The choice of woodcut "…seems particularly apt. Woodcut is among the simplest and most direct of printmaking techniques: I simply carve away the areas that I want to remain white, roll ink onto the block, and by rubbing, transfer the image to the paper. In this most basic form, the woodcut image is limited to black and white; the medium is thus characterized by sobriety, even starkness of expression. These qualities make it suitable for our reading of Ruth as a dramatically serious tale where the marks of suffering and hardship are never completely erased."