The Story of Christmas  by Gwen Ellis
Illustrated by Steve Smallman
Ages: 4-7
Put out by:   Thomas Nelson
Price:  $10.99

***Disclosure:  Mama Buzz and reviewers, received a complimentary copy of this book for review purposes.

Hands down, the Christmas season is my most favorite season of the year.  The family, the smells, and the food…yumm!  Books, too, are one of my favorite things.  Combine Christmas and books, and you can hear me humming the song from The Sound of Music (“These are a few of my favorite things…).  

The Story of Christmas fits into two of my categories of favs, so I was delighted to be able to review it.  Based on the Read and Share Bible, this picture book recounts the events surrounding Jesus’ birth.  All the people who witnessed and worshipped Jesus as He came to earth as a baby are included in the book.  Each section summarizes an event and includes disccussion questions and Scripture references.  Throughout the entire book are beautifully illustrated pictures which capture the attention of even the youngest children.

As an extra bonus, the book includes a DVD with various events in Jesus’ life.  The animation closely resembles the illustrations in the book.  All of the children were eager to watch the video.  However, Josiah was a  little scared when the scene of Jesus being tempted by Satan appeared (A cloaked figure with human hands and no face can be pretty scary for a two year old.).

The kids ate up the book, as usual in our home.  They loved reading and flipping through the pages over and over again.  

I would recommend this book as a great way to introduce the events of Jesus’ birth to a very young child.  However, nothing can beat the actual account in the Bible as a way to help a child understand that these were not merely fictitious events but actually occurred in the not too distant past.