Where Jesus Slept

This singsong Nativity story emulates the cumulative structure of the “House that Jack Built” nursery rhyme as Lewis (Connecting the Coasts) points out people and places mentioned in biblical accounts of Jesus’s birth, beginning with “This is the bed/ where Jesus slept.” The action moves from inside the stable to the surrounding fields and back again as shepherds and wise men gather to behold the baby. Hudson’s (Too Many Carrots) mixed-media paintings provide a sense of that motion in their shifting perspectives and close-ups of gentle-faced animals and the sleeping, smiling infant. Key words are emphasized in capital letters, but although the phrases from the second half of the book all rhyme (“These are the wise men who followed the light/ of the heavenly star shining bright”) those in the first half are unrhymed, striking an odd note when it’s read in full. Ages 4–7. (Oct.)