FICTION

The Donkey’s Song: A Christmas Nativity Story

by Jacki Kellum (text) & illus. by Sydney Hanson
Doubleday. Oct. 2022. 32p. Tr $18.99. ISBN 9780593375051.
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PreS-K–Debut picture book author Kellum takes readers on a journey into the night of Jesus’s birth, as told by the donkey who carried Mary to the stable. Kellum uses short, lyrical stanzas to describe the sights and scents of the manger, such as the flicker of candlelight and the smell of pine. As the angels sing and the wise men arrive, the donkey brays a song to the mark the wonderous occasion. Illustrations seem to glow with soft light, which gives each spread a cozy warmth. The animals all have a wide-eyed cuteness; however, the donkey appears to change size throughout the book, appearing large enough to carry an adult on its back in the first spread, but barely larger than the manger in the final pages. All people are depicted as white.
VERDICT Sweet, but not spectacular. An additional purchase for libraries where there are never enough nativity stories.
Reviewed by  Heather Webb , Sep 02, 2022

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