Goodnight, Manger

Jane says...

Goodnight, Manger is a new take on the Nativity by a fantastic new writer, Laura Sassi. I think the pictures ended up taking me about a year to complete. It was complicated to fit in all the different characters, and to get their relative sizes right. Added to that, painting skin is much harder than painting fur. When it came to painting Baby Jesus, I almost had a melt down. I just couldn’t get him right. I kept making him look too old, or too big – or too ugly! I hope he looks cute now. Phew!

The story takes us through the night of Jesus’ birth from the view of the poor parent who is trying to get the baby to go to sleep. I know, I know – the wise men didn’t appear until much later in the Biblical account, but they are welcome in this book, arriving soon after the jolly shepherds, sheep, foxes, goats and LOUD angels. Mary comes up with an ingenious solution to the ensuing chaos, and finally Jesus gets his nap.

If you enjoyed Goodnight, Manger, don’t forget to take a look at the companion book, Goodnight, Ark.