Holy Night and Little Star: A Story for Christmas
by Mitali Perkins; illus. by Khoa Le
Primary    Waterbrook    40 pp.
9/23    9780593578049    $15.99
e-book ed.  9780593578056    $7.99

Resistant to change, Little Star is uncertain how she can help Maker on Holy Night. She follows the shepherds to a stable in Bethlehem and sees a newborn baby there whose eyes are familiar: “This Child…was Maker!” Her gentle gleam calms the Baby, so she stays, shimmering softly overhead for Maker until the travelers from afar arrive to worship the King. Perkins’s child-friendly fantasy about the role played by the Star of Bethlehem offers a thought-provoking, cross-cultural retelling of the Nativity story. Perkins re-teams with Le (Bare Tree and Little Wind: A Story for Holy Week), who beautifully depicts the human and otherworldly aspects of the story with (culturally accurate) diverse skin tones for the people and effervescent illustrations of the celestial host.

From the November/December 2023 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.