Cricket at the Manger - Hardcover

Fine, Edith Hope

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1563979934 ISBN 13: 9781563979934

Publisher: Boyds Mills Press, 2005

Synopsis

A brilliant light shines in the night sky. The streets of the town are filled with people. And a cricket, sleeping in a stable, burrows under the straw. A donkey enters carrying a woman. "It's time," she says to her husband. "No sleep tonight!" says the cricket. But, later, when the cricket sees an infant in the manger, his thoughts of sleep are banished, for the cricket knows that this night is meant for rejoicing. Here is the story of the Nativity as told through the voice of one of the smallest creatures in the stable. Edith Hope Fine's poetic text and Winslow Pels's glorious illustrations combine to make this a special book for a special time of year.

About this title

About the Author:

Edith Hope Fine loves the rhythm of language and the sounds of invented words. Her work includes the picture books Under the Lemon Moon and Cryptomania! Edith lives in southern California.

Winslow Pels has illustrated a number of books for children, including Spectacles by Ann Beattie; Stone Soup by Ann McGovern; Camelot by Jane Yolen; and Ali and the Magic Stew by Shulamith Levey Oppenheim. She lives in Pennsylvania.

From Booklist:

PreS-Gr. 2. In this unusual version of the "talking animals at the nativity" story, the narrator is a grouchy cricket, awakened by people and animals trudging the streets of Bethlehem and crowding into the stable. Trapped by stomping feet and shifting hooves, Cricket screeches scolding sounds. A shepherd girl hears him and scoops him up, holding him aloft so he, too, can behold "the tiny child in a halo of light." When the baby's eyes meet his, the cricket knows he needs a song for the child. But when he tries to play his wings, he only squawks. Then he remembers "another way to play my wings" and creates a tune that makes the baby smile. The mixed-media illustrations, on textured, sand-colored paper, incorporate decorative details of religious art, and human characters are dressed in keeping with a traditional nativity story. Like the animals (and the cricket), the human characters have particularly distinctive eyes, but it's the cricket that really stands out: its body looks surprisingly mechanical, and its face incongruously human. Julie Cummins
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About this edition

• Publisher: Boyds Mills Press
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 1563979934
• ISBN 13: 9781563979934
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Pels Winslow