The Christmas carol ‘Silent Night’ is familiar to many, but how often do people pause to think about what the words mean? Lara Hawthorne brings the classic Christmas song to life in this beautifully illustrated hardback picture book. Dedicating each double-page spread to a different rhyming couplet from the original carol, this book tells the story of the nativity through vibrant illustrations that are teeming with a mood of joy and good news.

The brightly drawn characters and settings in the story are placed against a deep black sky with clusters of stars. Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus are depicted as dark-skinned and there are plenty of nods to middle Eastern patterns in the stylised designs. What I enjoyed the most is the way the illustration captures the way the original carol – and the nativity story itself – conveys an equal measure of peacefulness and joyful celebration.

A worthy addition to your collection of nativity story books.