By Barbara Buxton
Port Moody Public Library

There are many familiar Christmas stories for children that we know and love, like The Night Before Christmas or How the Grinch Stole Christmas.  But we may not realize that the most familiar story, the story about the Baby Jesus, has also been told in picture books for children.  If you want to share this story with your children in words and pictures they can understand, you will find wonderful variety of books in your local library.

Many children’s authors and illustrators have found ways to retell the Christmas story, each with their own unique flavour.  In one little book simply called The Nativity, illustrator Ruth Sanderson brings the gospel story vividly to life by surrounding lavish traditional illustrations with the elaborate borders found in illuminated manuscripts.  At the other end of the spectrum are Julie Vivas’s whimsical watercolour illustrations in her book also called The Nativity, in which an angel with multicoloured wings and green boots, joyfully guides Joseph, a very pregnant Mary, the shepherds and the Wise Men to Bethlehem.  One of my favourites is The Christmas Story retold and illustrated by Carol Heyer.  With rich colours and beautifully drawn faces, she portrays the awe and wonder of the nativity story.  For younger children try Here is Christmas by Donna Cooner, where the story is told in playfully repetitive verse similar to the old nursery rhyme, The House that Jack Built. The captivating artwork by Debra Reid Jenkins paints the story with broad colourful brushwork.

Other writers tell the Christmas story with an imaginative view of people or animals connected in some way to the story.  Miriam’s Gift, by Gerda Marie Scheidl, tells the tale of a little girl, the daughter of one of the shepherds, who overcomes all obstacles to give the Baby the gift of her favourite doll.  In Follow That Star, by Kenneth Oppel, a young shepherd misses the angels and is left a note by his brothers to watch the sheep. Because he wants to go too, he decides he has to bring his sheep along with him, causing him many amusing mishaps along the way. Then he finds that a mysterious person, an angel perhaps, has been guiding him all along. 

Animals are often the subject of these stories.  Inspired by the French carol, Helen Ward has a lovely illustrated version of The Animals Christmas Carol, in which all the animals brag about what they each bring as a gift for the newborn Jesus.  Even the youngest child will be delighted with The Donkey’s Christmas Song, by Nancy Tafuri, with its large pencil and watercolour animals and their joyful welcome of the new baby.

For those who are looking to find a way to relate the Nativity story to the more secular customs of Christmas, read your child Santa’s Favorite Story, by Hisake Aoki and Ivan Gantschev.  With lively childlike watercolour illustrations, the story tells of Santa feeling so tired that he might not bother delivering presents. The animals of the forest are devastated, asking Santa how they can have Christmas without presents, whereupon Santa tells them the story of the first Christmas and the gift of God’s love.

And finally, if you want a little Canadian content, try The Huron Carol, in which contemporary children’s illustrator, Ian Wallace, sets the lovely carol originally written by Father Jean de Brebeuf in the 1600’s, into a magical Canadian landscape.  And famous Canadian artist, William Kurelek, brings us A Northern Nativity, in which he adds his magnificent paintings to the story of a young boy trying to imagine what the Christmas story would be like if Jesus had been born in our northern land.

These and many more can all be found in your local library.