MY FAVORITE NATIVITY BOOK, ILLUSTRATED BY ONE OF MY FAVORITE ARTISTS

Ruth Sanderson illustrated one of our family's favorite Christmas read-alouds, THE NATIVITY.  If you followed my blog over the summer, you know about her many wonderful children's books - fairytales and horse stories, as well as lives of the saints books.  


Ruth's luminous, detailed illustrations vividly portray the story taken directly from the Gospel books of Matthew and Luke; and with Byzantine-like iconographic elements and elaborate borders, her pictures take on the look of an illuminated manuscript.

In this post, I also wanted to include a recent artwork montage produced by Ruth Sanderson, set to music by Tchikovsky, from the ballet SLEEPING BEAUTY. It's a celebration of 100 years of artwork on the theme of Sleeping Beauty, featuring her own and many other artists' renderings. If you have any daughters, they will really enjoy it. And you can find THE SLEEPING BEAUTY, written by Jan Yolen, with Ruth's beautiful illustrations, at your local library, used bookstore, or on Amazon!  

TWO ARTISTS TAKE ON THE SAME CHRISTMAS STORY, AUTHORED BY FRANK McCOURT

ANGELA AND THE BABY JESUS (best for ages 8 and up).
This unique book by Frank McCourt, has been printed in two editions by different publishers and illustrators, in order to offer an adult and child's adaptation of the same text. Inspired by his own mother's childhood experience, McCourt's story is set in Ireland, around 1912.  (The friend who recommended this book to me, reads it to her children in an Irish brogue!)

The tale begins when six-year-old Angela, the youngest child in her Irish-Catholic family, sees the baby Jesus naked, cold and alone in her church's Nativity creche and decides to take him home in order to wrap him in a warm blanket. What ensues on her journey home is quite humorous. Later, her older brother Pat blurts out her secret to the family, while their whole parish wonders with sadness and shock: who stole the Baby Jesus? You'll love how Angela and her brother's sibling rivalry tensions are resolved in a very satisfying and poignant ending.

I found the two artists' styles and interpretations in bringing this story to life fascinating.  You can read their perspectives (reprinted from AMAZON) in their own words below:

Loren Long on the Fireside Scene from Angela and the Baby Jesus (adult version):
Usually little Angela would want to be right in the middle of the action as the family sits by the fire and talks. But not this time--she has a secret upstairs.
At this point in the story, I'm giving the reader a seat behind the family in the shadows away from the fire. At the same time we, the readers, know about Angela's secret in the bedroom upstairs and we see her hanging back from the others, sneaking peeks up the staircase. We can see that she has something more important on her mind than her family's chattering.


In my visual interpretation of Angela and the Baby Jesus, I wanted to tap into Frank McCourt's sophisticated blend of gritty realism and subtle humor. For this reason, I specifically chose a limited color palette. I worked with acrylics on canvas and tried to keep the paintings a bit edgy and raw.


Choosing images came naturally when working on this story. I was taken with the balance of reverence, innocence, and humor in Frank’s text and I simply tried to come up with creative ways to portray these elements in a subtle but hopefully profound way. --Loren Long

Raul Colon on the Fireside Scene from Angela and the Baby Jesus (child version):
This image for Frank McCourt's Angela and the Baby Jesus picture book came to me just by thinking of a warm fireplace on a cold night.


In this particular scene the family sits around the fire to chat after tea. Angela's little brother is giving up the secret that the "Baby Jesus" is in the bed upstairs. Angela shows a bit of worry in her face, since she quietly snuck the "baby" into the house. Surely she'll be in trouble now.


Throughout the story I hardly show any of the adult faces, focusing mainly on the children's world. Hence, Mother's back is turned toward us. I also cut off the little brother's face by having Mother's turn-of-the-century hairdo get in the way (A little thing I learned from the great artist Degas.) It gives the scene intimacy, as if the viewer is there taking a snapshot with his camera. All in all a fun and rewarding book to illustrate. It was an honor to turn McCourt's words into actual pictures. --Raul Colon

Frank McCourt died in 2009. You can listen to this interview with the author about his book...

"WE THREE KINGS"...A ROYAL RENDERING

WE THREE KINGS is another beautiful offering by Russian artist, Gennady Spirin!  (To read my past posts about him, click here.)  


His lavish illustrations of this well-known Christmas carol will not disappoint you!  He dedicated this book to his three sons.

From Publisher's Review:  "Opulence befitting royalty characterizes Spirin's lush, jewel-hued watercolor-and-colored-pencil interpretation of the beloved carol about the three wise men (and their extensive entourages) who traverse afar. A spread rendered in an antique-like palette and featuring a host of singing, trumpeting angels in an inky, starlit sky marks each refrain of the familiar tune. Although younger readers will need help understanding some of the phrasing, they'll be happy to read or hum along, or just gaze at the sumptuously outfitted parade of camels, elephants, horses and kings making their way to Bethlehem. All ages."

A TASHA TUDOR CHRISTMAS - "TAKE JOY"

I inherited my mother's copy of this book, published in 1966.  It was my first introduction to Tasha Tudor and her beautiful artwork.  TAKE JOY is full of Christmas stories, poems, carols, recipes, accounts of her own family celebrations and quaint illustrations.  I love her recipe for fudge:

SETH'S FUDGE
3 squares cooking chocolate
2 cups sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup milk
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
Chop up squares of chocolate and put in heavy saucepan with sugar, salt, milk and syrup.  Place of LOW heat, stir until mixture boils.  This takes a while, about twenty minutes, so have a book to read while stirring.  Then cook to stage where it will form a soft ball in water (234 degrees on a candy thermometer).  Remove from heat, stir in butter and cool to lukewarm.  Add vanilla and stir vigorously about 5 minutes and turn into a large bread tin, buttered.  Makes about a pound.  Cut when cool and wrap each piece in aluminum foil or wax paper.

TAKE JOY!  TASHA TUDOR CHRISTMAS BOOK

written and illustrated by Tasha Tudor. (ages 7 and up).  An old-fashioned Christmas book.



A TIME TO KEEP:  THE TASHA TUDOR BOOK OF HOLIDAYS
Month by month, Tasha Tudor's delicate illustrations bring to life the holidays of an earlier time. A warm-hearted celebration of family and tradition, this treasury of "times to keep" will be cherished and enjoyed all year long. (Ages 7 and up)

THE DOLLS CHRISTMAS by Tasha Tudor. (ages 4-8)

Christmas is a special time at Pumpkin House, where two dolls named Sethany Ann and Nicey Melinda live. Every Christmas they invite their friends to join them for an elegant dinner party and a marionette show. The dolls have fun getting ready for their party: they send out invitations to their guests by Sparrow Post, decorate their very own Christmas tree with silver nutmegs and golden pears, and prepare doll-size cookies and other treats for the party. Then at "candlelight-time" on Christmas Day the guests begin to arrive, and the evening isn't over until the last carol has been sung around the tree.

To read more about Tasha Tudor, read my past blog post about her.

A MIRACLE INSPIRED BY THE HOPE OF A LITTLE BOY

THE MIRACLE OF ST. NICHOLAS by Gloria Whelan, illustrations by Judith Brown (ages 5 -8).  The first thing that drew me to this book was the pictures, which are painted in egg tempera - a technique traditionally used in the painting (or "writing") of icons - perfect for this uplifting story set in a 20th century Russian village.

The day before Christmas, a Russian Babushka is telling her grandson, Alexi, what Christmas was like in their village when she was a little girl.  With Alexi, we learn a bit of Russian history, as Babushka sadly relates how Communist soldiers closed down the churches in Russia and Christians had to hide their religion.  When Alexi asks why they can't celebrate Christmas there this year, Babushka tells him it would take a miracle.  St. Nicholas, the name of the church in their town, along with all the other places of worship, has been locked and empty for 60 years.

When Alexi goes to the church and finds it unlocked, he decides to clean up the cobwebs and get it ready for worship on Christmas Day. But the altar cloth, candles, cross, the five hundred year old icon of St. Nicholas, and a priest are missing.  The village needs a Christmas miracle!

Christmas day arrives and one by one, the villagers (who, unbeknownst to each other, had hidden various items of the church during the persecutions) begin to bring them back to the church. The biggest surprise is at the end, when the old town "shoemaker" shows up in priestly robes and is revealed to be the town's priest, after years of the villagers keeping his secret.

Because of a first step of faith by a little boy, the Church of St. Nicholas experiences a miracle - showing that governments and time cannot completely suppress faith and hope.

A PARADOXICAL SETTING FOR THE BIRTH OF A KING!

CHRISTMAS NIGHT, FAIR AND BRIGHT by Julie Stiegemeyer, illustrations by Melissa Iwai. (ages 3-7). If you're looking for a book that emphasizes the true meaning of Christmas for even the youngest of children, look no farther!

In simple rhyming words, Julie Stiegemeyer expertly recreates the sights and sounds of the first Christmas and at the same time, emphasizes the two natures of Christ -- His abject humility in his simple birth and His ultimate divinity as our King and Saviour. With each verse, Jesus' perfect life and death on our behalf is communicated:  "Jesus, born for us."

Most of this telling takes place in the humble stall -- the paradoxical setting for the birth of the King of kings and the Lord of lords:

Frankincense hangs in the air.

Stars are twinkling everywhere.

A child is born beyond compare -

Jesus, born for us.

Jesus has no kingly hall.

Jesus has no fortress tall.

Home becomes a cattle stall

for Jesus, born for us.

So sequined stars become a crown,

night, a robe to wrap around;

God's own Son to earth came down.

He's Jesus, born for us."

This book predictably recounts the events of that first Christmas, but it includes the flight to Egypt as well. It also alludes to the crucifixion. Melissa Iwai's illustrations are perfect for the 3-7 age group.  Her brightly colored images have less detail than those for older children, but still capture the drama and reality of the events on that dark night in Bethlehem, when Christ, the Light of the World, was born.

To see more books by Julie Stiegemeyer, click here.

MORE CHRISTMAS IN SILHOUETTE

On with my "40 Books for 40 Days" CHRISTMAS BOOK LIST...
I think I'll let these books speak for themselves!  Enjoy Jan Pienkowski's gorgeous silhouette art from THE FIRST CHRISTMAS and THE FIRST NOEL.

The First Christmas by Jan Pienkowski.

Also by Jan Pienkowski:
The First Noel: A Christmas Carousel

 

Book opens to make a beautiful centerpiece for your  table!