THIS IS THE STAR

This Is The Star ($16.00; Oct. 1996; 36 pp.; 0-15-200851-9): A cumulative rhyme that simply and gracefully tells the Nativity story, with intensely dramatic full-bleed oil paintings to illustrate each element—star, shepherds, angel, stable, Christ child, wise men, and all the rest. Blythe's effects are riveting, from the pointillist shimmer of starlight to the rough textures of the shepherds' cloaks to the gigantic phosphorescent apparitions of angels. He and Dunbar (Seven Sillies, 1994, etc.) do full justice both to the glory and to the simple humanity of the Christmas story. (Picture book. 4-10)