Today is Christmas day. I recently gifted a copy of this book A Christmas Story to some grandparents. I picked up a copy at a charity book sale for just AUS$1. This morning the delighted grandmother and grandfather took the time to phone me and exclaim with delight telling me how much they loved this book and how perfect it will be for their precious granddaughter.
The traditional Christmas story of Mary and Joseph and their journey to Bethlehem and the "people" who also travel along - the wise men, the shepherds, the star and the angels - are all well-known but Brian Wildsmith lifts this story to another level in two ways. Firstly, he makes the story personal for the reader by adding the character of Rebecca who has been asked to care for a baby donkey. She follows Mary and Joseph who are riding the mother donkey and along the way Rebecca asks the various nativity characters for help to find the way. This is such a gentle and as I said, personal way, to retell the story for a young child. Secondly, this book is filled with the most glorious art. I explained to the grandparents that picture books can be a way to give a young child a very special art experience long before you take them to a more formal art gallery. Every child needs to see and experience books illustrated by Brian Wildsmith.
There are huge landscape scenes in this book echoing the enormity of this story and on some pages little Rebecca and her baby donkey are portraited as tiny characters in a corner of the scene and yet somehow, they remain the focus of the illustration. Brian Wildsmith also fills his pages with gold and there are pages that just seem to shimmer and shine.
Here is a video of the whole book. This book has been published several times - here are some of the other covers. You could also click on the label Brian Wildsmith at the bottom of this post to read about the exhibition I visited in Barnsley.
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