the best christmas pageant ever book review

I've seen stories along these themes before, that either directly play with the logic of the nativity story or use parallels to explore the emotion or potential reality behind it. The classism and callousness from the townspeople only gets worse over the course of the story, but because of the narrative voice, I didn’t feel hit over the head with it. while the same description allows for an adult reader to see through to a struggling family where the kids lash out at a society that doesn't care about them. But it's exactly the unthinking way that a child thinks about other children: they must just be born bad, no one blames their father for running off, everyone hates them because they're bullies. I was bothered by the first chapter of the book, when the narrator is unquestioningly describing the Herdman family and the awful things they do. A child, in fact, could probably read this book and not realize how skillfully the message of kindness, charity and wonder is woven in. You never feel the hand of the adult author shaping the message. The narrator stays very childlike, though, which I think is key to the appeal. The narrator is observant enough to report on all the things that 'everyone knows', while being open-minded enough to allow for other perspectives or new information. Her opinions and asides add color, humor and context.

The story is told in the first person, by a young girl. The most interesting thing is the narrator. This may come as close as any religious-ish story ever has of evoking actual emotion in my cold, dead soul. In doing so, they force the townspeople to confront the reality behind the rote recitation of the myth. The plot regards a group of unruly siblings who take over the Christmas pageant in a small town.

Although, it probably seemed less so in 1972. I have to admit, though, for an eighty-page book written for young readers, this is impressively subversive.

The best christmas pageant ever book review