The Story of Christmas

The Story of Christmas, retold by Gwen Ellis and Steve Smallman is a book that tells the story of Christmas for children. The story is divided into 9 short segments starting with the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth and ending with Jesus, Mary and Joseph leaving Egypt to return to Nazareth. Each story part is brief (2 pages) and at the beginning of each story it references where in the Bible that particular part is taken from. It would be best for children ages 4-8, though older children might enjoy it as well.

I enjoyed this book, and thought that the story kept to the original Bible story. This would be a great book to use for a devotional time with children or in a Sunday School class. At the end of each story, there is a author's comment or question related to the story that could be a springboard for a conversation. The illustrations depict the traditional sort of Christmas scenes that a person would expect. The DVD covers part of the Christmas story and goes beyond it, but the cartoon figures look like those in the book. This book is a great way to convey the real meaning of Christmas to children.

I reviewed this book as part of Thomas Nelson's book blogger program.