We Believe in Christmas

November 1, 2008
This bestselling inspirational author offers a heartfelt holiday story about a family 's participation in a traditional Christmas pageant at their church, contrasting the meaning behind the first Christmas with modern, secular celebrations. The text follows the family as they drive through town past decorated stores, shoppers and Santa greeting children in a store window. Rhyming couplets on each spread describe some secular aspect of the season, followed by a more religious way of looking at it and ending with the refrain "and there will Christmas be. " These comparisons are always stated in a gentle way, without directly criticizing the commercial or materialistic aspects of the season. At first these couplets rhyme and scan well, but then they mysteriously stop rhyming. This break in the rhyme scheme jars readers, as does a conspicuous grammatical error ( "you and me will always find our Christmas "). Brown 's attractive illustrations include a multiethnic cast in the Christmas pageant and a lovely view of a girl playing the role of Mary on the cover. (Picture book. 4-7)

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October 1, 2008
K-Gr 2-This plodding poem never manages to convey the wondrous awe to which the author alludes. Then when we talk of wondrous awe, /no matter what we see, /lets think back in wondrous awe, and/there will Christmas be. Browns vibrant, if somewhat static, paintings show a multiethnic group of children and adults getting costumed and ready for the traditional pageant, while the leaden couplets try to coax readers into thinking about the true meaning of the holiday. The disconnect between the words and the more engaging illustrations limit the appeal of this offering.-"Anne Connor, Los Angeles Public Library"

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