cover image SILENT NIGHT: A Christmas Carol Is Born

SILENT NIGHT: A Christmas Carol Is Born

Maureen Brett Hooper, , illus. by Kasi Kubiak. . Boyds Mills, $15.95 (32pp) ISBN 978-1-56397-782-4

Despite its soaring subject matter, this version of the story behind one of the season's most memorable songs fails to distinguish itself in the genre. After discovering that the organ is broken, an Austrian church organist and priest collaborate on a guitar-accompanied carol for Christmas Eve, moving the congregation with its quiet beauty. The facts are affecting and Hooper's (The Christmas Drum) telling is able enough, but Kubiak's (The Nativity) oil paintings are oddly static. Ages 6-up. (Sept.)