Have you ever known someone who just seems to give their all to the task at hand? Or how about that little one who is multi talented?

Well, I just finished reading a picture book called Little Star by Anthony DeStefano provided by WaterBrook Press for review. It's a delightful children's book that any parent or grandparent will enjoy reading together. I recommend this one for your personal library and Sunday school library, too. In fact, once again WaterBrook Press provides an excellent gift book for boys and girls that are on your Christmas list.
Little Star


The story begins with a warm, tender discussion between a father and his son about the Christmas star. The enchanting illustrations by Mark Elliott compliment the author's text perfectly. I love the way little star feels a bit sad about his tiny size (trying to figure out his purpose) and hears some story amidst the community of stars (much larger stars) about a rumor of a king being born.

My favorite sentence is "“I think I understand!” Little Star cried out. “The baby Jesus IS a king! He’s just little!”

This Little Star of Bethlehem gets the King's message of love and burns brightly to keep baby Jesus warm. Perhaps it seems a bit sad to read of a star's legacy to burn ever so brightly only to burn oneself out but his great reward from the Father is to be remembered each Christmas, as tradition goes for many, to place a star on top a tree to celebrate Jesus' birthday. I found this to be a sweet story for everyone. 5*

"The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world."

-- John 1:9 ( )

*Spoiler Alert*

This is a story about the special star that showed the way to find baby Jesus. I like the parallels the author draws between a tiny, seemingly insignificant and overlooked star and the birth of Jesus. The illustrations are very nice with depth even in muted colors and does a fair job of differentiating between fantasy (more cartoon-like drawings of the stars) and real life (more life-like drawings of people). I also like the parallel of the tiny star giving its life for Jesus. However, like other reviewers, I don't care for the fact that the star burns out by dawn. The Biblical star did not burn out after one night and we as Christians do not burn out when we are shining with God's light. The book says there was to be "a special reward ... given to the star who could shine the brightest on the night the baby king was born." If the reward is that some people put a star on their tree at Christmas, I'm sorry but that's a let down. I could see where some children would be very sensitive to this ending. Biblically, I think the ending should have been different. I would not recommend this book and I don't know if I will keep it.

I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review ( )