First sentence: One magnificent morning in Israel,
when the sun warmed the Great Salt Sea,
word spread to every living creature:
The Holy One has, at last, been born.
A season of celebration can begin!

Premise/plot: This holiday book focuses almost exclusively on animals. This isn't unheard of, there are other songs, stories, books about animals worshipping Jesus Christ the newborn King of the universe. Sometimes authors choose to approach the nativity from an animal perspective. This isn't one animal's journey or perspective. Each stanza of this narrative focuses on another animal or group of animals. Each animal bears a gift for Jesus. There are a LOT of animals and a LOT of gifts.

My thoughts: This one is unusual. I haven't decided if it's good unusual or just unusual. I wanted to love this one. I've really enjoyed Nikki Grime's books in the past. The illustrations are bright, bold, striking. Not necessarily realistic. The imagery is substantive. This isn't a cutesy story for toddlers and preschoolers necessarily. ( )