TO HEAR THE ANGELS SING: A Christmas Poem

A musical poem about Jesus' birth works in harmony with perky acrylic-and-watercolor pictures to sound a festive note. Relying on repetition, Nikola-Lisa's (Shake Dem Halloween Bones) words communicate the quiet anticipation and happiness of that holy night in Bethlehem: "Three wise men followed from afar,/ from afar, from afar./ Three wise men followed from afar/ the brightly burning light." Young readers will immediately warm to Weber's (Harp O'Gold) playfully tweaked perspectives, merry angels and cheerful stable-dwellers. Ages 2-6. (Sept.)