cover image Bright Christmas: An Angel Remembers

Bright Christmas: An Angel Remembers

Andrew Clements. Clarion Books, $16 (32pp) ISBN 978-0-395-72096-7

A wise angel who has seen it all delivers an anecdotal account of the night that was ""different from all the others--ever,"" the night that ""the great truth came to the earth once and for all."" In the voice of a seasoned spinner of yarns, Clements (Temple Cat) imagines a heavenly perspective on the birth of Jesus. The clever and colloquial text incorporates angel appearances from several Bible stories and hints at what it might feel like to be such a religious messenger. Kiesler's (Grandfather's Christmas Camp) soft oil paintings set the scene for biblical events with canvases of blue-black starlit nights and vast expanses of golden Middle Eastern desert. A few aerial perspectives bolster the premise of the text. Ages 4-8. (Oct.)