Books, Fiction

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson

Worth A Read Yes
Length 128
Quick Review The Herdman kids decide to take part in a church’s Christmas pageant, and it is the town’s nightmare incarnate. The director decides to make it the best pageant ever, anyways.

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The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson is so cute!!! | Buffalo Plaid Flannel Shirt | Black T-shirt Dress | Watch | Snowflake Earrings | Black Suede Over-the-Knee Boots |

I had never read The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson, but I had read the play many, many years ago. Not only did I read it, I played one of the main characters, Imogene Herdman, in the play as a kid. It was fun to revisit this poignant and funny story full of devilish children in a Christmas pageant.

Imogene, Ralph, Claude, Leroy, Ollie, and Gladys Herdman are a nightmare. With almost no parental supervision, they run amok around town and in school. A reputation for bullying, theft, and utter chaos follows them everywhere. None of the other children like them, and even the teachers avoid them. The Herdman’s are all but beyond help. By chance, they end up at Sunday school and take an interest in the Christmas pageant. Even as everything is falling apart for the director, she decides to make it the best pageant the church has ever had, even with the disastrous Herdmans. 

Published in 1972, I was shocked by how progressive it was towards gender equality and religious views. Robinson calls out society’s female stereotype for being sweet in the first sentence, “The Herdmans were absolutely the worst kids in the history of the world. They lied and stole and smoked cigars (even the girls)…” The Best Christmas Pageant Ever is 128 page children’s novel and a social critique making points on parenting, religion, the education system, government, and culture in general. Robinson writes an entertaining story full of funny and teachable moments sure to enchant children while leaving adults with a story full of nuance and insight. 

A little girl in the same class as Imogene Herdman is the narrator of the story. The narrator is also the daughter of the pageant’s director. She has a fairly passive role within the story, but her narration has a really beautiful arc of understanding and growth, which is the same arc Robinson hopes the reader will travel on. 

I grew up in a progressive, Christian church. I knew a lot more about the history of the Christmas story than others, but there is a gap in how the Christmas story is told in church and how it is written in the Bible. Robinson makes a point of calling attention to this gap. The narrator acts as the mirror for the reader to, likely, see themselves in. The Herdman children are the fresh perspective. Without a religious background, they’re making observations on the weird parts of the story most people and churches gloss over. The narrator is a good person, but her mind is opened by the seeming antagonists: The Herdmans. She has really poignant moments of growth, “[Jesus] could have had colic, or been fussy, or hungry like any other baby. After all, that was the whole point of Jesus – that he didn’t come down on a cloud or like something out of “Amazing Comic,” but that he was born and lived… a real person.” and “I had never thought much about Herod. He was just a name, somebody in the Bible. Herodtheking.” I thought these were incredibly beautiful moments within The Best Christmas Pageant Ever because I have seen adults who have not been able to make those same realizations.

One of my favorite moments in the book to read was the line ”We put Glady in a bureau drawer,” from Imogene because I remember saying it on stage. There were several scenes I very much appreciated. Imogene running around with a cigar was another because I had so much fun playing that character. Being a naughty Herdman was so fun as a little girl.

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever is such a great story for the whole family. I absolutely loved reading it for the first time as an adult.

Memorable Quotes
“We figured they were headed straight for hell, by way of the state penitentiary…”

bisous und обьятий,
RaeAnna

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Title: The Best Christmas Pageant Ever
Author: Barbara Robinson
Publisher: Harper Trophy
Copyright: 1972
ISBN: 9780064402750

Books

The Water-Babies

Read Yes
Length 198
Overview A Victorian children’s classic addressing themes and issues reaching far beyond a basic children’s fairy tale.

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I read The Water-Babies by Charles Kingsley in a Victorian Lit. class in college. I really loved it, but I was confused at how it could possibly be a children’s fairy tale. Yes, it’s engaging and interesting and full of wonder, but it has really deep meanings, which cannot be ignored partially because they’re constantly smacking you in the face.

Basics of the story: Tom is a poor chimney sweep, who has no knowledge of God or cleanliness or any type of kindness. Through a small bout of craziness and an old Irish lady, Tom runs away from his hyper abusive master. He ends up being turned into a water-baby, which is the water equivalent of a land-baby. There are other water-babies, fairies, and characters with names like Mrs. Bedonebyasyoudid. How can you not love it?

Like many Victorian novels, it is, at its core, a truly moral fable. There is a stark moral code set out within the novel – Charles Kingsley was an Anglican minister. One thing that I was absolutely taken with in college was the fact it is such a female centric novel. The women are good, strong, honest, and resilient and the men are fools, abusive, or a combination thereof.

There are so many layers and lenses in which The Water-Babies can be read. Kingsley’s opinions are pretty evident throughout for the good and the bad. He did not support child labor, and it can be read as a satire. Throughout the story science is evident. Darwin is mentioned kindly on several occasions. Other scientific topics are pollution, method, geology, education, and biological debates prevalent at the time. Kingsley heavily criticizes close-minded approaches to life and knowledge.   

One of my favorite things about the narration, is how the narrator speaks directly to the reader. This isn’t unusual, especially at the time, but the way he does it is not terribly common. There are full on discussions, where the reader is answering questions posed by you, the reader. It is highly amusing as it can go on for several pages.

Anyways, The Water-Babies is a fun little novel. You can read it for a fun, light read, or you can deeply read it. I’m not a science person, so I would love to hear your sciency takes on it!

Memorable Quotes
The most wonderful and the strongest things in the world, you know, are just the things which no one can see.”
“Do as you would be done by.”
“…children always wake after they have slept exactly as long as is good for them…”

Title: The Water-Babies; A Fairy Tale for a Land-Baby
Author: Charles Kingsley
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Copyright: 2008
ISBN: 9780143105091