At the bookstore where I work, one of the most in-demand items every Christmas is the Christmas edition of Ideals,
which is always full of stories, poems and pictures that evoke the joy
and nostalgia of a family holiday celebration. Along with the
delightfully homey quality, readers can always expect superior artistry.
So while I enjoyed On Christmas Morning, a board book put out by Ideals Publications, it fell a bit short of expectations.
One glance at the book's thick pages and it's obvious that it is
intended for small fingers. Patricia A. Pingry provides the narration,
which is written in an ABCDB rhyme format. For the most part the rhymes
are decent if unremarkable, though in a couple of stanzas the wording is
awkward, and there are some strange choices made with punctuation, as
in the stanza in which the three wise men "rode their camels far /
across the sand. / To find a king; / they followed one huge star."
Gene Barretta's illustrations are detailed but cartoonish. There's
enough to look at in the scenes both of a traditional down-home
Christmas and of the Nativity, but there's nothing very distinctive
about any of the pictures. It all feels very generic, which is bad news
when there are so many Christmas books on the market with unique and
memorable touches. In trying for general applicability, Pingry and
Barretta sacrifice any real sense of character with the modern half of
the book, while the format distances us from the Biblical events it
describes.
Nonetheless, I appreciate the way that On Christmas Morning
integrates the sacred elements of Christmas with the more secular,
serving as a reminder to keep the reason for the season in mind in the
midst of all the Christmas trees, fancy dinners and presents. There's
also a nod at charitable giving. There are other books that get the same
points across more engagingly, but this wouldn't be a bad thing for a
toddler to open up on Christmas morning.
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