The Birds of Christmas

A desire to serve shines across Armstrong’s version of a favorite European folktale about how the robin got its red breast. Alerted by Raven about the news of the Christ child’s birth, various birds wing across the nighttime sky above a frosty, sleepy Bethlehem to the stable where the infant, portrayed with light brown skin, has been born. Inside, a small, quiet bird hangs back as Nightingale offers the infant a lullaby and Stork plucks its own feathers to create a fluffy pillow. But when the stable’s warming fire begins to dwindle, and mother and newborn shiver, the little bird flaps its wings to fan the flames, catching a glowing ember on its chest that creates “a bright badge of radiant red.” Crisply textured feathers, cross-hatched backgrounds, and whimsical landscapes distinguish Miroslavova’s stylized images, rendered in graphite pencil and saturated digital color, making this “Little Drummer Boy”–flavored story especially inviting. Ages 4–8. (Aug.)