The Christmas Bird

The Christmas Bird

A retelling of an English Christmas legend in which a robin is rewarded for its help warming the baby Jesus. Heartwarming story and vibrant, kid-friendly illustrations a good selection for family holiday reading. -- CBA Marketplace, August 2000 Sallie Ketcham is a former staff writer for the Minnesota Senate. She also is author of Bach's Big Adventure (a Children's Book-of-the-Month Club selection). She lives in Minnetonka, Minnesota with her husband and two children. Stacey Schuett has illustrated more than twenty children's books, including Come and See: A Christmas Story; Day Light, Night Light; and Somewhere in the World Right Now. She lives with her family in Sebastopol, California. Weary and wing-sore, the little bird hovered over the tiny village in Palestine. Touched by the quiet moon, her shadow dropped over the inn. If I knew the way south like other birds, she said to herself as she always did on the coldest nights of the year, I would winter in Paradise. Hugging her wings to her drab brown breast, she hopped into the stable and chirped a greeting to the cow who shared her home. She cocked a black eye at the hard dirt floor where sometimes she found bits of grain amid the chaff. Hush, my friend, lowed the old brown cow, the babe s asleep. Startled, the bird flew up and landed on the cow s bony shoulder. Why, there is a child in the manger, she whispered, confused. Whatever is happening? Something special, I think, murmured the cow. Used Book in Good Condition