The Little Drummer Boy, illustrated by Ezra Jack KeatsThere are many versions of this book floating around and I suppose many of them are wonderful, but to me nothing can compare to this particular edition. I have always enjoyed the illustrations of Ezra Jack Keats and the watery brilliance of his artwork for The Little Drummer Boy has to be among his best.
I admit I am biased, though. I remember this book at my grandmother's house and even managed to inherit her old paperback copy. I was hesitant to leave it with the children, though, so a year or so ago I picked up a board book edition. (I tried to link to the board book at Amazon; it's always tricky when there are lots of different illustrated versions of the same text.)
It's such a sweet song of giving to Christ whatever we can, of using our gifts in his service. The children always love to sing it and sometimes even play instruments along with it.
I couldn't possibly stick to five (or seven, or eight) picture books for Christmas. Here's a link to my original "five" favorite picture books and a link to another favorite from last week. I do plan to post our picture books for Advent 2012, but there's so much to do this time of year! You can find all of last year's books here.
