Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Snowflakes fall on a young family watching a live nativity scene in their city neighborhood. As the boy peers into the manger, the story shifts to an ancient field underneath gentle moonglow and a brilliant star's guiding light on the holy night observed by shepherds. By literally bookending the traditional account of Jesus' birth (with text from the King James Bible) with cheery modern imagery, sans commercial trappings, Castillo underscores the connection between past and present. Sketched in thick, black line, her kind-looking figures, human and animal, convey a wealth of emotion. Ages 3-7. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 3-The only text in this book is a few sentences from the King James Bible, and many of the ink and watercolor illustrations, in soothing tones of brown and gray with bold outlines, are wordless. They show a modern family-mom, dad, babe in arms, and dog-walking child-out for a stroll on a snowy evening, when they come across a small, outdoor Christmas pageant. As the child peers into the manger, readers are taken back in time to Bethlehem, with illustrations of sheep grazing over a dry Middle Eastern landscape as the shepherds learn of the birth of Jesus. As light from the star streams down over the holy family and shepherds leaning over the manger, the scene switches with a turn of the page back to the modern family singing carols in the snow in front of the manger. The theme-that the most basic meaning of Christmas has remained the same over the centuries-is conveyed with a warm and captivating simplicity that even the youngest child will understand.-Eva Mitnick, Los Angeles Public Library (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
Over three wordless spreads, a young child walks with his family through their neighborhood to take in a live Nativity scene. The third spread brings us up close to view the boy looking thoughtfully into the manger at a sleeping Christ child. As the biblical story begins (And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field), readers are transported to the setting of the first Christmas. The seemingly incongruous pairing -- formal Bible verses and Castillo's child-friendly illustrations -- works beautifully, with subdued colors and unfussy compositions making the archaic text more accessible. As the Nativity story comes to an end, the pictures gently carry readers to the present, but the spirit of that long-ago miracle remains in the air, evoking the real meaning of Christmas. kitty flynn (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
This touching interpretation of the Christmas story wordlessly follows a modern-day family as they journey through a snowy town in the evening to view a live Nativity scene. The family includes a baby in a white snowsuit, who provides a subtle symbolic connection to the baby in the manger in both the re-created scene and the Nativity story that follows. As an older child peeks in at the baby in the manger, the setting shifts in time and place to Bethlehem of long ago, accompanied by the traditional words from the King James Bible, before returning to the contemporary setting. Gorgeous watercolor illustrations in a subdued palette of twilight grays set off the falling snowflakes in the modern scenes, while the biblical scenes are brilliantly lit by starlight. Castillo's smudgy style infuses all with wonder. (Picture book/religion. 4-8)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.