The Gifts They Gave - Book Review & Give-Away!

I was recently invited to review a book which illustrates the traditional carol, The Gifts They Gave; and I'm happy to say, I will be giving one copy away as well! So, first of all, I thought some background on the carol would be interesting to learn and looked it up on Wikipedia. They say, "'The Friendly Beasts' is a  traditional Christmas song about the gifts that a donkey, cow, sheep, camel, and dove give to Jesus at the Nativity. The song seems to have originated in 12th-century France, set to the melody of the Latin song 'Orientis Partibus'. The current English words were written by Robert Davis (1881-1950) in the 1920s. The song is also known as 'The Song of the Ass', 'The Donkey Carol', 'The Animal Carol', and 'The Gift of the Animals'.

The Gifts They Gave
Illustrator - Patricia Reeder Eubank
Publisher - Sterling Children's Books
Ages - 2 to 5

Favorite Features -

• Lovely illustrations make this a charming book for Christmas with little ones
• Text is entirely made of the lyrics to this old carol

This book makes a fun story to share with little ones at Christmas to help them review the account of Jesus' birth - minus, of course, the animals! As you read through this book, consider singing the carol and then talk with children about how Jesus was born in a stable, a donkey likely did carry Mary to Bethlehem where Jesus was wrapped in cloths and laid in a manger. Talk about how the wise men did come on camels to visit Jesus and they did bring Him gifts and His name is Emmanuel; which means, God with us! And of course, this gives us opportunities to talk about how wonderful it is to know God is with us!

I'm delighted to say not only did Sterling Children's Books send me one The Gifts They Gave to review, they also sent an additional one for me to give away (USA only)! If you would like to be in the drawing for The Gifts They Gave - which will be on December 1, 2013,  please comment below to let me know if you have followed on Google Friend Connect, followed by liking on facebook with the tab in the "Find us on Facebook" box ON THE BLOG or at this link (not just liking the post) and/or have followed About the Children's Department by email. For each of these which you have done you will receive one entry. In addition, if you "share" this post, you'll receive an additional entry (please let me know if you share). This will help me be able to draw names from among people who would like to win The Gifts They Gave and  it gives you several ways to enter the give-away! Thank you for reading About the Children's Department and for sharing it with the people you know!