Little Star--A Review

I love books.

Oh, how I love books!

(And, yes, I really like kids' books, too. Shh! Don't tell.)

I also really like Christmas books, but it's so hard to find good Christmas books, especially books that follow the Christmas story of the birth of Jesus.

Enter Little Star by Anthony DeStefano.

I just received Little Star in the mail today, and although I have a semi-strict rule of no Christmas until after Thanksgiving, this book was just too cute to wait for another month.

Synopsis (from the back of the book)

A king is about to be born! The stars in the heavens are competing to shine the brightest to celebrate his birth. But when they see the poor family, the donkey, the shabby stable, the stars all think, That can't possibly be a king. We've been fooled.

All except one. The smallest, loneliest star in the sky, Little Star, is the only one to understand what the king is about to bring to the world. But what can Little Star do for him?

My Review

First off, Little Star is beautifully illustrated! The pictures are definitely geared towards children, but without being cartoony or comical. A big plus with me (and my kids) when dealing with the Christmas story.

While the main theme of this book isn't just Jesus' birth, but rather Little Star's participation in Jesus' birth, the theology is sound. The story of Jesus' birth (minus the stars, obviously) is neither embellished nor detracted from. It is woven into Little Star seamlessly, being neither prominent nor shoved aside.

My two girls seemed captivated by the story, and stayed quiet through most of it (which is huge!). Six year-old E refused to tell me her opinion (she's a grumpy girl tonight), but asked quite a few questions about stars after listening to the story. That's as much as I got from them tonight. Sorry! I'll update later if I can glean any more from either of them.

Over all, Little Star by Anthony DeStefano is a wonderful Christmas book! It is definitely written for children, with both language and themes easily understood by them.

It has put me into the Christmas spirit a month early. Which I suppose isn't a bad thing; however, I still refuse to play my Christmas music yet!

This post was written for Family Review Network. I received a complimentary copy of Little Star from Anthony DeStefano in exchange for my honest review.