WE BELIEVE IN CHRISTMAS
by Karen Kingsbury and illustrated by Daniel Brown
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)