4. The Third Gift

Written by Linda Sue Park

Illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline

Houghton Mifflin, 2011
$16.99, ages 7-10, 32 pages

A father and son walk a desert collecting tears of sap for market, not yet knowing that the largest of those pearls will become a gift for a baby named Jesus.

Newbery Medalist Linda Sue Park joins with renowned illustrator Bagram Ibatoulline to weave a captivating tale about myrrh, the third gift given by the wise men to the Christ child.

Imagining a father teaching his son how to gather the treasured resin, Park describes the two walking with a basket, water-gourd and an ax across a landscape almost entirely of sandy rock to a grove of stunted and spiny trees.

The boy's father kneels by one of the gnarled trees "to see inside."  Gently, he feels the bark with his hands, and plucks off a leaf and sniffs, to determine whether its myrrh is ready to be harvested.

9. The Story of Christmas

Text based on the King James Bible

Illustrations by Pamela Dalton

Chronicle, 2011

$17.99, all ages, 32 pages

In this reverent retelling of the nativity story, illustrations look as if they were pulled from the walls of a church.

Using a technique rooted in 16th Century folk art, Pamela Dalton scissor-cuts designs from a single piece of paper, then watercolors in details and mounts the scenes on a black backdrop.

Each design is a fragile tapestry of paper and has a mural-like quality. Ornate and naturalistic, it conveys a feeling of antiquity that works beautifully with the story, retold here from the King James Bible.

In one spread, readers see the angel Gabriel alighting before Mary, an Easter lily being offered in his hand, and later, three shepherds arrive at the manager to see baby Jesus, each of their gowns elaborately cut in repeating patterns.