Little Star

You may remember a post I did a while back about the book Ten Prayers God Always Says Yes To by Anthony DeStefano.  If you don't remember the post, I highly recommend going back and reading it.  

Anthony DeStefano has just released a children's book entitled Little Star.  I received a copy from him to read and review.

I flipped through it when I first received it and immediately was drawn to the illustrations.  The Little Star has a tuft of hair coming out of his top point.  How can you not immediately fall in love with that?

The story, in a nutshell and without giving anything away, is about a little star who is ignored by the other stars because of his size. When Little Star finds out Jesus is being born, he wants to burn the brightest of all the stars. But how can he do this?  After all, he is the littlest star.

I read Little Star to myself  before I read it to the kids and immediately loved it.  It was such a sweet story without being overly maudlin or gooey. 

When I read it to Sarah, she grabbed the book from me and insisted she hold it and turn the pages.  I knew she was captivated.  She thoroughly enjoyed the story and the illustrations.  Even Peter, who was playing and listening from another part of the room, stopped what he was doing several times so he could come over and join us. 

Little Star is a sweet story that talks about the birth of Jesus and it's meaning in a different way than your typical children's Christmas story.  It gets 6 thumbs up from the Cotell household!

And just as a cool side note - Anthony Destefano was 15 years old when he wrote this book.  He was taking a  writing class that was taught by Frank McCourt, author of Angela's Ashes.  The assignment was to write a children's book and Little Star was born.  Mr. Destefano considers this his greatest work.  The teacher must have liked it as well because he got an A!

Please note - I was given a copy this book to review.  That was my only compensation for this post.