Who built the stable where Jesus lay? Multiple Coretta Scott King Award–winner Ashley Bryan has a very good idea in this beautiful and moving new layer to the nativity story.

The boy looked in the infant’s eyes
And in his heart he knew
The babe would be a carpenter
He’d be a shepherd too.

This beautifully crafted picture book that envisions a young boy, a shepherd and carpenter both who, out of love and kindness, cleared the way for another shepherd and carpenter to be born on Christmas day. Told in gentle rhyme and illustrated with Ashley Bryan’s enormous talent, this is a picture book that captures the reason for the season in all its wonder and beauty, celebrating Christmas, the kindness of children, and the new hope born with each new baby.

Who built the stable where Jesus lay? A multiple Coretta Scott King AwardDwinner has a very good idea in this beautiful and moving new layer to the nativity story. Full color.

Who Built the Stable?: A Nativity Poem by Ashley Bryan (Atheneum/S&S,

$16.99 hardcover, 9781442409347, 40p., ages 4-8, October 2, 2012)

Poet and artist Ashley Bryan (Beautiful Blackbird) shifts the nativity

story to a child's eye-view with this moving tale of a boy shepherd and

carpenter who invites Mary and Joseph to take shelter in the stable he

built. Tempura and acrylic illustrations resemble watercolors as they

evoke the feeling of stained glass, and the characters' faces reflect

the citizenry of Egypt and the Middle East through which the Holy Family

traveled. Exquisite. --Jennifer M. Brown