Star Bright, Christmas Night

Hall uses personified animals and celestial objects to follow the spreading news of Jesus’s birth. Details emerge as she moves from the sun to a star to angels and various animals: “As Mama Cat gives bedtime baths,/ she whispers into ears,/ ‘The inn is full. Our newborn King/ will spend his first night here!’ ” There’s the occasional minor oddity (the sun makes mention of a “Christmas night surprise” as it sets, even though “Christmas” isn’t exactly a thing quite yet), but there’s palpable excitement among the people and animals making their way to the manger, both in Hall’s ebullient rhymes and Jatkowska’s gently textured illustrations of a Bethlehem coming alive by night. Ages 2–5. (Oct.)