Who Was Born This Special Day?

Ages 2-6. The narrator of this Christmas poem, which is set in an ethereal, evening barnyard, asks a series of animals the answer to the title question: “Was it you?” Each animal answers in a brief poetic line about its own birth: “No, not I,” says the goat. “I was born on a soft, warm night under the white of the moon’s pale light.” The speaker asks a tree and a stone until finally the answer comes: “The child who lies in the manger bed, / the shine of the star high overhead.” Young readers might feel the animal images in Gore’s muted, dreamy acrylics, viewed almost as if through a diaphanous screen, are too indistinct in some cases. But the style works well to reinforce the poem’s reverent tone, particularly on the final page that features feathery angels looking down into a glowing manger. Suggest this as a holiday bedtime book for very young children. Gillian Engberg
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Eve Buntingis the author of many beloved books for children, from picture books through middlegrade fiction, including Smoky Night, illustrated by David Diaz, which won the 1995 Caldecott Medal, and Atheneum’s recent Swan in Love. Originally from Ireland, Ms. Bunting lives in Pasadena, California, with her husband.