Every Christmas, Grandpa gathers the children around the fire and tells an amazing story. Although our narrator loves to listen, he imagines that the story is just a fantasy. When Grandpa was a young shepherd watching over the flocks, he and his fellow shepherds are visited one night by the angel Gabriel. The angel brings astounding news of the birth of a king and bids the shepherds to follow a star to find the baby, but someone must stay with the sheep, and Grandpa is left behind. Feeling lonely and disappointed, Grandpa stays with the sheep. To his amazement, the angel Gabriel returns for him and flies him to the manger where the young boy is allowed to see the baby Jesus. Suddenly, as Grandpa finishes his annual retelling of the story, angels appear before our narrator's eyes, and his heart is touched by the power of the story. This gentle retelling of the nativity story will appeal to young readers because of its narrator's own young perspective. Through the eyes of a young boy, the story retains all of its magic while personalizing what it might have been like to be there. Quentin Blake's familiar whimsical illustrations add to the magic. Reviewer: Leah Hanson

Gr 3-5-Grandpa's tale is a fondly remembered Christmas tradition, though as his grandchildren grow up it seems "too fantastical" to be true. The story he tells is of his boyhood recollection of being with the adult shepherds when the angel Gabriel appeared and told them of the Baby Jesus's birth and directing them to follow the star in the East. The adults follow and leave the boy behind to mind the sheep. Gabriel then reappears and offers to fly him to the stable to see the baby for himself, while a band of angels watches the flock. The mysterious love of the baby, the angels' voices, and the secret gift of a shepherd's crook to the baby who will one day carry it as he shepherds a human flock are all conveyed through a simple, though sometimes jarringly modern tone. Gabriel says: "I could fly you to the stable. We could be there and back, lickety-split, and no one would ever know you'd been gone . . . .Easy as pie." Blake's sketchy watercolors illuminate the spare story and hint at the wonder of angelic visitors. A read-aloud title for sharing at home, this probably isn't destined to become a widespread holiday classic.-Anne Connor, Los Angeles Public Library

Blake and Morpurgo, both former holders of the British children's laureate honor, join their considerable talents in this touching Christmas story aimed at both older children and adults. In first-person narrative, a grandfather recalls for his grandchildren his amazing adventure long ago when he was a shepherd boy on the night Christ was born. On that night, the boy was sad to be left behind when his father and brothers went off to visit the baby born in Bethlehem. The angel Gabriel appears to the boy and flies him to the stable as the baby's first visitor, where he leaves his shepherd's crook as a gift for the baby. The grandson hearing the story has been doubtful about its veracity all his life, but on this Christmas Eve, he too sees the angels singing as his grandfather did. Morpurgo's story is lyrically written with a bracketing introduction and conclusion by the grandson. His graceful prose makes the unlikely story seem quite concrete and possible. Blake's distinctive illustrations in watercolor and ink amplify the text with small spot illustrations on most pages and larger illustrations in glowing gold and red of the angel Gabriel. (Fiction. 7-adult)