Silent Night illustrated by Susan Jeffers

Her transcendent, large-scale compositions do indeed suggest a night when all is calm, all is bright. Publishers Weekly


Silent Night is the classic Christmas carol. This book includes the music. This book was republished in 2003 and so it is out of print but if the publisher does decide to reprint I would love to see additional pages about the origins of Silent Night along with the words in German. You can read more about the carol and also hear several different versions here.

There are three verses from the carol in this book:

Silent night, holy night, all is calm, all is bright. 'Round yon Virgin Mother and Child, Holy Infant so tender and mild.  Sleep in heavenly peace,  Sleep in heavenly peace.

Silent night, holy night! Shepherds quake at the sight! Glories stream from heaven afar, heavenly hosts sing Alleluia! Christ, the Savior is born, Christ, the Savior is born.

Silent night, holy night, Son of God, love's pure light. Radiant beams from thy holy face, with the dawn of redeeming grace.  Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth, Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth.

Image source Wikipedia

Here are some other beautiful books illustrated by Susan Jeffers. I think all school libraries should own one or two of her books because the art is truly special.

It would be good to link this book with Christmas in the Trenches and Shooting at the Stars - The Christmas Truce of 1914.

How to hide a Lion at Christmas by Helen Stephens

Image source The Sunday Times

Iris and her family will spend Christmas with Aunty Sarah. They need to travel there by train and mum says her lion cannot come.  Iris sadly says goodbye but her lion has other ideas. He follows the family and catches the train.  When he wakes up Iris and her family are gone. Lion is determined to find his friend so he simply begins to walk back along the rail tracks. Eventually he reaches a village - luckily it is the village where Iris is staying but how can he get inside the house? And who is that man in red heading down the chimney?

From the blurb:
"When the family go away for Christmas, Iris has to leave her lion behind. The lion can't bear to see Iris looking so sad, so he decides to sneak along, too. After all, how hard can it be for a lion to hide at Christmas."

Here is Helen Stephens web site. You can see pages from this book on the US Publisher web site. and on this page Helen shares her rough drawings and book creation process. How to hide a Lion at Christmas is the fourth book in this series:

Angel Mae by Shirley Hughes

"I'm going to be the angel Gave-you!"

It is time for the Nativity play. Nancy Jones will be Mary, Jim Zolinski is Joseph, three boys from the class are going to be the kings. Mae thinks she can be the baby but Mrs Foster says they will use a doll.

"She said Mae could be a cow or a sheep if she liked, but Mae certainly didn't want to be either of those. She stuck out her bottom lip and made a very cross face. 
'What about being an angel?' asked Mrs Foster.
Mae didn't want to be an angel either.
'You could be the angel Gabriel,' Mrs Foster told her. 'That's a very special angel, a very important part."

At home the family are expecting a new baby. On the day of the Nativity play Mum and Dad head off to the hospital. That night while Mae is up on the stage her dad arrives. Mae is so excited she waves to her dad and falls off her chair. She bravely climbs back on and continues to sing with the other angels.

This is a sweet story which gently portrays the experiences of one young child at Christmas. It also gives the reader a small view of everyday life in her family.  One tiny detail I really appreciate in the book is seeing little Mae wearing glasses.

Angel Mae was first published in 1989. The cover above is from the 2016 edition which is still available. Angel Mae is one story of four about the kids who live on Trotter Street. The four stories, originally published individually, are: Angel Mae; The Big Concrete Lorry; The Snow Lady; and Wheels. In 2020 a new compilation edition will be published:

Shirley Hughes: "she has continued to delight and innovate right up to the present day, with wordless picture books and strip cartoons among others, but always with her characteristic attention to detail and effortless evocation of the everyday life and concerns of small children."  from: Make a friend for life in Alfie

I would pair Angel Mae with Shine by Karen and Jonathan Langley; A Christmas Star called Hazel; Wombat Divine and An Angel just like me by Mary Hoffman.

The Tooth Fairy's Christmas by Peter Bently illustrated by Garry Parsons

It is Christmas eve and the Tooth Fairy expects to settle down in her comfy lounge room. She has her fire and tree which she has started to decorate. On the walls are pictures of teeth and smiles showing tooth gaps above her file cabinets which I assume are filled with details of the teeth she has collected. Unfortunately, even though it is Christmas Eve, Little Tim Tucker has lost a tooth and so the Tooth Fairy must head out into the wild snowy storm to retrieve it.

It is a terrible night and the Tooth Fairy is lost. The storm blows her off course but luckily she meets Santa and together, with a few twists and turns, they manage to pick up Tim's tooth and head back into the night.

Have you read Harvey Slumfenburger's Christmas Present?  The best part is the final page. The contents of the present is just left to the imagination of the reader.  The same thing happens in this book.

"Night-night then, dear Santa,' the Tooth Fairy said, and soon she was fast asleep, tucked up in bed. So she didn't hear someone slip in, in his socks. ...  and reach in his sack for a brightly-wrapped box, and lay it down silently under her tree."

This is a warm story told in rhyme and it is sure to appeal to a very young child. The best aspect of this book are the glorious full page illustrations which at times zoom right into the action. On the publisher web site you can see a preview.

I laughed when Santa gets stuck as our pair of heroes attempt to leave Tim's house. 

"They ran to the window, then what rotten luck-
as Santa climbed out his big bottom got stuck!
The Tooth Fairy pushed with a Heave! and a Ho!
And together they fell in a heap in the snow."

Perhaps you could listen to the song When Santa got Stuck up the Chimney.

The designer of this book has added so many beautiful touches. On the first page there is a gift tag where you can add your name as the owner of this book. The front and back covers stretch out to reveal Santa, the happy tooth fairy (she has lost her hat) and a smiling reindeer all set on a back ground of snow and sparkling snow flakes. The end papers are red with white tree outlines and snowflakes. They might inspire an art project!

The Tooth Fairy's Christmas was published in 2014 and now a paperback edition is available. Take a look at other books by Peter Bently and the books illustrated by Garry Parsons.  The second book in this series is Happy Easter, Tooth Fairy.

The Ox and the Donkey by Gunter Spang illustrated by Loek Koopmans

A few weeks ago someone asked on social media for a list of books with the Nativity story. There are of course hundreds of examples. I especially love Wombat Divine. When I visited a library last week I made this topic a focus of my borrowing. You will see I have already talked about The Little Donkey; Cat in a manger; and Room for a Little One.

When I read The Ox and the Donkey one gentle idea really stood out:

"Perhaps he is cold, thought the donkey, and he leaned over the crib and blew gently on the baby with his warm breath, until the baby calmed down and went to sleep."

I love the idea of the warm breath and this is repeated later in the story:

"That afternoon, Joseph repaired the leaky roof. Now it was warm and snug in the stable. The donkey and the ox too turns keeping the baby warm with their breath."

This book was originally written in German with the title Ochs und Esel. The English translation is by Marianne Martens.

Donkey's are mentioned many times in the Bible but not in any references to the story of Mary and Joseph and their journey to Bethlehem.  I know that seems odd but I am glad that people who retell the Nativity story usually include a donkey.  In some cases the donkey carries Mary to Bethlehem with Joseph walking alongside. In other versions the donkey travels to Bethlehem to meet Jesus and in the case of this book the donkey is already living in the barn or stable. After the baby is born and the assorted visitors have left the donkey carries Mary and her new baby to Egypt. Once the little family arrive at their destination they send the donkey back to his friend the ox.

Here is a set of ideas to adapt The Ox and the Donkey as a play with music for children.

What do donkeys symbolise?  The donkey is a beast of burden. They are seen as hard working, with a strong determination and will power.  They also can seem obstinate and stubborn.

My friend at Kinderbookswitheverything has just written on her blog about the donkey and the nativity story.  Take a look at her extensive list of titles.

Follow Me by Rick Searle illustrated by Bronwyn Searle

It is day six of my twelve books of Christmas. We are suffering here in Australia with high temperatures and horrendous bushfires. On Christmas Eve in 1974 the Australian city of Darwin was hit with a powerful cyclone - Cyclone Tracy. The words of Dorothea Mackellar (verse 2 from her poem My Country) aptly describe our environment:

I love a sunburnt country,

A land of sweeping plains,

Of ragged mountain ranges,

Of droughts and flooding rains.

I love her far horizons,

I love her jewel-sea,

Her beauty and her terror -

The wide brown land for me!

"There were no presents that Christmas.

There was no house!

There was hardly any town left! ...

The fig tree was a sorry sight.

Not a twig. Not a leaf.

'It will grow back,' said Dad. 'It's a survivor."

Follow me begins when Dad was a boy. A tiny tree has taken root in the brick work of their Darwin house. Dad and Gran rescue the little plant. They put it in a pot and the next Christmas it goes into a bigger pot and so on until eventually the tree needs to go into the ground. Many years pass. Dad grows up and the tree becomes enormous. Every Christmas Dad returns to visit his mum (Gran) with his new family and to see his tree. Each year it is decorated with hundreds of Christmas lights. Then comes the Christmas of 1974.

"One sleep to Christmas. Christmas eve.
The storm broke.
Lightning flashed. Thunder crashed.
The wind moaned.
The rain drummed on Gran's tin roof.
It was so noisy I couldn't think.
It got worse.
Lightning flashed. Thunder crashed.
The wind howled. The rain pelted down."

Sadly the old fig tree crashes to the ground but six months later the family return. Gran has a new house built on the land of the old one and there, growing out of the driveway bricks the family see a tiny seedling. The fig tree has survived and is ready to grow all over again. I love the final image in this book. I hope you can see the vegemite jar:

Follow Me was published in 2001. Oddly I had not read this book until this week. I had no idea it was a Christmas story nor did I know it was such a perfect one to read here in Australia especially this year.

The Little Donkey by Gerda Marie Scheidl illustrated by Bernadette Watts

Tuesday Treasure

In this version of the Nativity story a donkey hears that a baby has been born in Bethlehem - a King.  The donkey believes the story and "longing filled his heart. He knew that he must leave his master and go to his King. So at nightfall he quietly left."

The journey is long and hazardous and it is made worse by the comments and scoffing of the other animals the donkey meets along the way - a camel, a lion, a hyena, a wolf, a fox and a ram.  The words they use are so hurtful:

"You would not be allowed to visit a king. ... Because you are a donkey; and a donkey is a lowly, stupid beast."

"You silly donkey! Do you believe any king would even notice you? You were born to bear loads, not to stand in the presence of a king."

You will cheer as the little donkey keeps plodding on. He does not give up and eventually he sees a group of angels in golden robes. They guide him onto the road to Bethlehem. Then he sees a star - the star - shining over a stable.

"There in the hay, just as the story had said, lay the little child, and Mary and Joseph stood by him. The baby laughed merrily to see the donkey. He stretched out his hands and smiled. The little donkey bowed before his King. His journey had ended."

After reading The Little Donkey why not listen to the song which tells of the donkey that carried Mary to Bethlehem. I also recommend you listen to The Small One narrated by Bing Crosby.

The German title for The Little Donkey is Ein Esel geht nach Bethlehem. It was first published in 1988 and the paperback edition was issued in 1998. Sadly this book is now out of print - hence it is a Tuesday Treasure. Gerda Marie Scheidl was the author of nineteen books for children. She died in 2005.

I really adore the art of Bernadette Watts.  It is easy to see the way one of her art school teachers - Brian Wildsmith, influenced her work.  Here are some of her books which are still in print: