This is Joyce's third biography and continues the fine work she has already done in A Piece of the Mountain (Blaise Pascal) and The Ocean of Truth (Sir Isaac Newton). The River of Grace is unique in that it is the only biography of Calvin available for the young adult market. Joyce focuses especially on Calvin's childhood and youth, tracing his days at the university and the circumstances of his conversion. She traces his early and precocious leadership of the Protestants in France and his flight from France to Basel, Strassburg, and Geneva when King Francis I began executing Protestants. The result is a warm and affectionate picture of the leader of the second generation of the Protestant Reformation. "... if Luther sounded the trumpet, Calvin was the one who orchestrated the score." Written on a 5th/6th grade reading level, but worth reading out loud to younger students. Older students and adults will also find this to be a valuable introduction and an aid in understanding the author of the Institutes of the Christian Religion.