Not Your Grandma's Christmas Pageant

Title: The Best Christmas Pageant Ever
Author: Barbara Robinson
Published: 1971
Pages: 108

Reading Time: December 11, 2009.

Plot Teaser:
The Herdmans are the worst kids in the history of the world. They lie, steal, smoke cigars, swear, and hit little kids. So no one is prepared when this outlaw family invades church one Sunday and decides to take over the annual Christmas Pageant. None of the Herdmans has ever heard the Christmas story before. Their interpretation of the tale - the Wise Men are a bunch of dirty spies and Herod needs a good beating - has a lot of people up in arms. But it will make this year's pageant the most unusual anyone has seen and, just possibly, the best one ever.

How I Got It:
This was a 2008 Christmas present from my youngest sister. It was a really thoughtful gift because I had read this book back in elementary school. I think we all had to read it as a class. I can not readily recall which grade we read it in, but it could not have been anywhere past grade five or so. Maybe even earlier. Anyway, I had some faint impression of the book in my memory before reading it again as an adult.

The Review:
This book is a riot, plain and simple. Yes, it is meant for children. Yes, the writing is quite simple. Neither one of these things changes the fact that the story is incredibly entertaining, funny, and surprisingly ponderous for a book of its type. As a children's book, it asks the child in all of us to ask questions about the things adults tell us and expect us to take at face value. It is about challenging paradigms, as much as it is a fantastic Christmas story.

Essentially, everyone at school is terrified of the Herdman family - a group of six brothers and sisters who are models for bad behaviour, come from a broken home, wear dirty clothes, and live out of a garage at the edge of town. While the focus is on the family as a whole, Imogene Herdman gets the most attention in the book, since she is the one who decides to play Mary in the pageant. By the way, the only reason the Herdmans get mixed up in the school's Christmas pageant is because they heard there were free refreshments and cake given out at Sunday school. These are the kids who beat you up in school, but likely did it as a defense mechanism to shut out their own feelings.

What makes this book such a hoot is the way it plays with social stereotypes. There is Mrs. Armstrong, the head of every committee at the school, and the one who feels that things can not function normally if she is not around. This is put to the test when she injures herself and the nameless narrator's mother is forced to take over the Christmas pageant. There is also Alice, who is the model of perfect childhood behaviour and morality. She normally plays Mary each and every year, but is threatened by Imogene, so she is forced to back out. Throughout the story, she can not help but display her bitterness and goody two-shoes personality, as she criticizes everything that is now surrounding the Christmas pageant. Barbara Robinson creates these characters to oppose the terrifying Herdmans, but ultimately sides with the so-called bad apples; and for good reason.

As someone who grew up with Christmas pageants, and who had the (mis)fortune of being in one, this book was particularly fascinating. Yes, it is certainly more targeted towards a Christian audience who have some familiarity with the story of Jesus' birth, but the way it questions everything associated with the story itself makes it possible for non-Christians to jump on board and enjoy the pop culture criticism as well. Imogene is the voice of reason, as she wonders out loud why Mary did not get to name her own child, why Herod was allowed to live, why the three wise men would bring such useless gifts for a child, and why an inn keeper would make a pregnant woman sleep in a barn. These types of questions permeate the book and bring some real life to a story many of us have taken for granted. It would likely serve many adults well to read this with their own children, and to take it to heart as well.

In the end, the book is about hope and redemption. Hope that the bad apples in our society can have some good in them. That they can even be redeemed and in turn show the rest of us the true meaning of virtues like love and charity. It is a book that an adult can read in about an hour's time, and one that is deceptively simple. Beyond the humorous surface, there are real questions posed about the danger of making assumptions, about our social systems and authoritative structures, and our numbed attitude towards others and ourselves. Despite my own feelings about faith and religion, it is incredibly hard not to be touched by the conviction of a book like this. Sometimes, you do need someone loud and blunt to remind you of why you are here, and why you are going to all the trouble of pleasing people around you this time of the year.

Hey! Unto you a child is born!

The Verdict:
This is a personal Christmas classic. I love how it is fueled by the energy and enthusiasm of its characters, how it asks questions, and how it aims to educate as well as entertain. A book like this shows that children's books do not only have things to teach children, but adults too. It also shows that children's books can be subversive and respectful towards their subject matter at the same time.

4.5/5

Next Up:
Blankets by Craig Thompson.