2016, first published 2015
pre-school, Key Stage 0, ages 1-4, Booth Anne, Usher Sam, Christian, Nativity,
This tells the story of Mary and Joseph fleeing to Egypt
with Jesus after Joseph dreams they are in danger. It is told from the point of view of the
donkey that carries them.
The donkey’s voice is strong and he recognises the best in
humans – the kindness of the innkeeper, the affection of the parents for the
baby Jesus, the encouragement of the shepherds who watch them set off on their journey
and the refuge the Egyptians offer.
As always with picture books for this age group there is some
much extra story in the pictures. Facial expressions tell a lot: we see the
tenderness in the face of Mary and Joseph, the wonder in the wise men, hope and
fear as they travel, peace and relief as they arrive in Egypt, and kindness in the
Egyptians.
The pictures are mainly grey scale. Much of the action takes place at night. There
are touches of yellow and the daytime pictures show a yellow sky. Yellow symbolises
light and comfort in the penultimate double spread.
There is a mixture of pictures going across double spreads
and isolated pictures integrated into the text on single pages.
The text is sparse and the pictures dominate. It uses an adult
font though it is large.
The story is fundamentally Christian though deals with a
less familiar part of the nativity story. Even for those who do not hold the
Christian faith this supplies a story important to many cultures.
£1.00 from each copy
sold goes to War Child. There is page at the end of the book, addressed to adults
reading with the child, that explains about the work of War Child.
There is also a QR code in the front of the book that takes you to a free audio version of the book.