I Am Christmas - Hardcover

Ages 5^-7. Carlstrom retells the story of Christ's birth in original prose, relating not just the familiar Christmas journey, but also the religious significance it holds today. Rich oil paintings bring out the setting of the story and its meaning as Mary and Joseph travel to Bethlehem to be counted. Each lovely illustration fills one-half of a double-page spread and spills onto the other page, which ends in a band of white holding the seven or eight lines of text. McElrath-Eslick reveals the beauty of the landscape--its colors, its bounty--and the faith of the people who live there. Carlstrom uses many names and symbols of Christ in her text and highlights them for added focus, but she uses them in ways our ears may be unaccustomed to (such as "I am the light / they lift in the night / that brightens the darkness / as they walk this way / up hill and down / going to the town / to be counted" ). Ultimately, however, her words subtly work a change, carrying the reader to the very satisfactory "I am beginning, I am end, / the message foretold / scratched in sand / etched in gold--/ I am the story, I am the song." Kathy Broderick

Nancy White Carlstrom uses simple yet lyrical prose to retell the story of Christmas. Lori McElrath-Eslick's dramatic oil paintings resonate with the power of this moving story. Complete with a selection of Scripture references, I Am Christmas is a beautiful picture book which imparts the true meaning of Christmas to children ages 4 to 8 in a most wonderful way as they journey with Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem and experience again the wondrous birth of the Christ child. -- Midwest Book Review