KING OF KINGS
by Susan Hill & illustrated by John Lawrence
The author of The Glass Angels (1992) offers a briefer Christmas story: an appealing vignette set near the docks of contemporary London, where a few residents cling to old homes among warehouses and building sites. There, Mr. Hegarty—widower, retired watchman—is weathering a solitary Christmas Eve when he's awakened by a cry. Someone has left a new baby outside the church, and though the old man has never in his life held a tiny child, he carries it to the nearby King's Hospital. It's 3 a.m by the time he's answered questions and been plied with tea; next morning, returning for news, he's welcomed once again—and learns that the baby is being honored as the first to be born this Christmas Day. The story is gentle, understated, and imbued with the kind of detail that endears Rumer Godden to her readers; Lawrence's expertly limned illustrations are precisely observed, freely rendered, and suffused with a gray, wintry light, warmed by firelight and the colors of woolly blankets. An inviting book for a holiday evening. (Fiction/Picture book. 5+)