Silent Night, Holy Night: The Story Behind Our Favorite Christmas Carol (Traditions of Faith from Around the World)
Kindergarten-Grade 2–When Grandpa Strasser comes from Germany to visit his grandchildren in Chicago, he tells them the story of how their family was involved in the creation of the famous Christmas carol. An Austrian pastor named Joseph Mohr wrote the poem, and his friend Franz Gruber set it to music. An organ repairman heard the song, memorized it, and played it at his church, where two singing families, the Rainiers and the Strassers, heard it and began singing it everywhere, helping to make it the popular carol it is today. The grandfather's telling of this tale, interrupted by quaint comments from his grandchildren, is long and not very interesting. The accompanying full-page illustrations glow with warm colors but the people in them look stiff and staged. There isn't much to appeal to children here.–E. M.Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.