Small Camel Follows the Star

A young, wide-eyed dromedary in service to wise man Balthazar gets a starring role in this oddly revisionist Nativity story. In Brown's tale, the travelers have clearly taken the long way. After following the bright star for “months,” they arrive bearing gold, frankincense and myrrh not at a Bethlehem stable, but at what appears to be the Nazareth home of Joseph, Mary and Baby Jesus—who in Ferri's soft, luminous pastels is the size of a toddler. Unfortunately, the text's reassuring tone cannot counterbalance its puzzling timetable. Ages 5-8. (Nov.)