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Summary
Summary
From two extraordinary talents, a beautifully crafted picture book for the Christmas season.
The three wise men, or the three kings, are familiar figures in the Christmas tradition. Newbery medalist Linda Sue Park has taken the brief biblical references to the three as the starting point for a new story.
In it we meet a boy who is learning his father's trade; a man who gathers resin from certain trees; a merchant in the marketplace; and three strangers in brightly colored robes who are shopping for a gift for a baby.
Illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline with exquisite paintings, this simple, moving tale of ordinary people involved in an extraordinary event brings new resonance to the well-known gift list of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
Author Notes
Linda Sue Park was born in Urbana, Illinois on March 25, 1960. She received a B.A. in English from Stanford University. After graduating, she worked as a public-relations writer for a major oil company for two years. She obtained advanced degrees in literature from Trinity College, Dublin in Ireland and from the University of London. Before becoming a full-time author, she held numerous jobs including working for an advertising agency, teaching English as a second language to college students, and working as a food journalist. Her first book, Seesaw Girl, was published in 1999. Her other books include The Kite Fighters, Tap Dancing on the Roof: Sijo (Poems), and A Single Shard, which won the 2002 Newbery Medal. She also wrote Storm Warning, which is the ninth book in the 39 Clues series. Her title A Long Walk to Water made the New York Times bestseller list.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (6)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Somewhere in Ibatoulline's ancient, almost-shimmering Arab desert landscape, a boy at his father's side learns the family business of gathering valuable sap, which seeps like tears from certain trees. Neither father nor son realize the greatness of their wares as it is sold to three finely dressed men who add it to gifts of gold and frankincense that they are taking to "a baby." Newbery Medalist Park's lean, well-paced story bridges the ordinary and the sacred to powerful effect. Park's author's note describes her inspiration and includes some background on myrrh. Ages 6-9. (Nov.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
A boy learns from his father how to collect "tears" ("the pearls of sap that seep out of a tree when the bark is cut...maybe they are called tears because it seems as if the tree is crying"). Three wise men take one of them as a gift to the Baby Jesus. Textured acrylic-gouache illustrations set the scene nicely in this lyrically told story. (c) Copyright 2012. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
It's hard to tell at first where this book is going. My father collects tears, it begins. The tears are balls of sap that seep from the trees. Together, father and son walk over desolate terrain, looking for trees that will deliver the tears used for medicine and embalming. Father is especially good at finding them. But it is left to the boy to carve out the biggest tear of all to sell to the Wise Men, who are bringing it as part of a gift to a special babe. This quiet story may not grab readers at first, with little action beyond simply the clipped wanderings and working of a man and his son. The desert-sand color that saturates the pages also gives a stillness to the art, though the nearly photorealistic faces of the duo are arresting. Yet at the conclusion, when the boy wonders about the gift's recipient, children may be set wondering as well. The extensive author's note explains Park's reasons for writing this picture book and adds welcome detail.--Cooper, Ilene Copyright 2010 Booklist
New York Review of Books Review
This simple retelling of the Nativity opens fittingly with a moon-faced owl, whose hushed watchfulness sets the tone for the book, which doubles as a bedtime tale. Told largely through the gathering of the animals, as befits a Christmas story for very young readers, Thompson's rendition emphasizes mood and setting. Bean's atmospheric illustrations, in earthy tones of black, taupe and slate blue, give this quiet tale of maternal devotion a distinctive and appropriately lovely look. A CHRISTMAS GOODNIGHT By Nola Buck. Illustrated by Sarah Jane Wright. 24 pp. Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins. $12.99. (Picture book; ages 2 to 5) "Goodnight to the angel choir./Goodnight to the star above./Goodnight to the Holy Family./Goodnight to the ones we love," run the couplets of this pleasing bedtime book, which grounds the Nativity story in the young reader's own familial experience. (On a very good night.) A debut for Wright, the illustrator, "A Christmas Goodnight" features sweet-faced children and animals and an especially cozy-looking manger, which work well with Buck's graceful rhymes. THE BEST CHRISTMAS PAGEANT EVER By Barbara Robinson. Illustrated by Laura Cornell. 40 pp. Harper/HarperCollins. $16.99. (Picture book; ages 4 to 8) Their subject matter may be solemn, but Christmas pageants are opportune moments for comedy. This picture book adaptation of Robinson's popular 1972 novel of the same name features the Herdmans - "the worst kids in the history of the world" - and their takeover of the town's annual pageant. The frantic, comedic drawings by Cornell, who illustrates Jamie Lee Curtis's children's books, suit this tale of holiday misbehavior and unanticipated generosity, which she amplifies in scribbly, animated style. THE STORY OF CHRISTMAS From the King James Bible. Illustrated by Pamela Dalton. 32 pp. Handprint/Chronicle. $17.99. (Picture book; ages 4 to 8) Dalton's extraordinary illustrations for Katherine Paterson's retelling of "Brother Sun, Sister Moon" won rave reviews this past summer. Here, she uses the same intricate cut-paper artwork set against a dramatic black background, to great effect. Shimmering as in an illuminated text, the angel Gabriel, the Wise Men and the Virgin Mary reflect medieval iconography as well as the American folk art tradition. Children will enjoy contemplating the serene scenes to the cadence of the archaic language in the text. THE THIRD GIFT By Linda Sue Park. Illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline. 32 pp. Clarion/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. $16.99. (Picture book; ages 6 to 9) Park, a Newbery medalist, strikes a highly original note in this beautifully told and exquisitely illustrated story about a boy who learns from his father how to cultivate myrrh in the Arab desert. Myrrh, drops of which the father and son call tears, is drawn from tree sap, then used as medicine, flavoring, salve and funereal incense. "When you smell the tears at a funeral, you know that someone truly beloved has died," the boy explains. Today's collection is destined for three men in fine robes, who add it to their stock of gold and frankincense. "The gifts are for a baby," they tell him. PAMELA PAUL ONLINE A slide show of this week's illustrated books at nytimes.com/books.
School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 2-A boy tells of the long walks he takes with his father, who collects pearls of sap from certain trees, a skill he has honed over years. These expensive "tears" are used as medicine and spice, and as incense at funerals-and when three strangers arrive at the marketplace to buy the finest tears "for a baby," readers discover that it is myrrh, one of the gifts to baby Jesus mentioned in Matthew 2:11. The hyperrealistic acryl-gouache illustrations depict the sandy beige hues and nuanced textures of a dry and inhospitable land, contrasting with the smooth skin and rounded cheeks of the young boy and his loving relationship with his father. This gorgeous picture book sheds thoughtful light on a fascinating facet of the Christmas story.-Eva Mitnick, Los Angeles Public Library (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Newbery Medalist Park offers a Christmas story explaining how myrrh is harvested and how it came to be one of the gifts carried to the Christ Child by the three Wise Men.Her story begins with an intriguing opening line: "My father collects tears." The story is narrated by a boy whose father is teaching him to harvest dried pearls of sap that bleed out of myrrh trees when the bark is cut. The dried sap, the boy postulates, is "called tears because it seems as if the tree is crying." The narrator explains the various applications of the tears, including the funereal use of the very best tears. The father allows his son to harvest the largest tear during their search, which is then sold at the spice market to three men who are taking special gifts to a baby. As the men leave on their camels, the boy is left wondering about this baby. The mysterious tone of the text and subtle references to tears, blood and mourning foreshadow the fate of this special newborn. Large-format illustrations in a subdued palette are suffused with golden light, complemented by parchment-colored backgrounds for the text blocks.The cumulative effect of text and illustrations has a sad rather than celebratory feeling, unusual in a Christmas-themed story and therefore refreshing in a usually relentlessly cheery season. (author's note) (Picture book/religion. 6-9)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
