When I was told of the opportunity to review this book for Tommy Nelson, I thought it would be a nice Christmas story, but I confess I didn’t have super-high expectations.  Having read it, though, I cannot say enough about One Wintry Night!  This is not just a Christmas story, but the Christmas story.  And yet more.

The Story

One wintry night, Zeb gets stranded across the mountains in a blizzard.  Taking shelter with an older grandmother type, he discovers that his ankle has been injured – and he’s snowed in with her for several days.  This story forms the frame device for the story she tells him of the first Christmas.

Better still, this is the whole Christmas story.  By that I mean that this does not just tell the story of Luke 2 and leave it at that.  Rather, it summarizes everything, from the Creation of the world through the Fall and many of the landmarks of the Old Testament, through the Advent of Christ and even on to Redemption.  You wouldn’t think that the entire Gospel history could be summarized in just 64 pages, but it is quite effectively done.

There is a little bit of literary license in the description, and in the addition of a boy and a girl who experience Christ’s birth and resurrection firsthand.  However, for the most part, the story is simply true to Scripture.  It’s written at a level that even young children can understand, but it’s very accurate.

The Illustrations

And the illustrations!  The illustrations are simply gorgeous.  Some are fairly simple – small additions in the corners of various pages.  But others are intricate, highly-detailed full-page illustrations of Creation, the Garden of Eden, etc.  There are full-page drawings of characters and of a lion (in reference to Daniel’s tale), and more.  Truly, the book is more than worth the price for the pictures alone.  Many of them are the sorts of things you could hang on your wall in large format as standalone artwork.  I hear that it took the illustrator four years to prepare the illustrations for this book!

Win It

This is well worth reading now, at Christmas.  However, I think it’s also a useful tool for teaching our little ones all year ’round.  Win your own copy by entering with the Rafflecopter below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: As a “Tommy Mommy,” I was provided with a copy of this book to facilitate my review.  Tommy Nelson is sponsoring the giveaway, as well.  As always, all opinions expressed here are entirely my own.