Search - First Christmas (Little Bible Playbooks)

ISBN 1575843285 - Childrens' books with unique gimmicks are rare and should be appreciated. This is one of those. Add the fact that it's a Christmas book and I'm already hooked.

The story of the first Christmas is told, beginning with the angel that informs Mary that she will have "a very special baby". Joseph's confusion, the call for a census, the trip to Bethlehem and the rest of the story are all here.

Without opening the book, from the front and from the back, you can see a layered picture. The pages are cut to different heights, the "taller" pages acting as "further away" people and places in the big picture. This is a very nice 3D effect and has the added bonus of offering another place to grasp the pages for turning. The front cover has two small cut-outs that are stable windows on the outside and house windows on the inside. Board book pages will stand up to some rough handling and the small size of the book makes it easy for small hands to hold. The pages are glossy and wipe clean easily. The text, by Allia Zobel-Nolan, covers all the high points of this Christmas fable without getting into such detail that a child couldn't follow it. For children of single mothers, there might be a question raised by Joseph; when Mary tells him that she's pregnant, it says "But since they weren't married, Joseph was confused", as if pregnancy couldn't be achieved without marriage. While that's a nice thought, and might even apply completely to the world of 2008+ years ago, it doesn't apply in the current world. Tracey Moroney's illustrations cover every inch of every page and are colorful and fun, although not particularly bright.

Christian parents will appreciate this as a chance to introduce their child to their Christmas beliefs. Non-Christian parents probably won't care much for the book. I was raised reading these stories - and I've never been Christian - so I don't see any real harm in letting a non-Christian child read a book like this, which they'll probably see as no different than Frosty and Rudolph tales.

- AnnaLovesBooks