Amazon.co.uk: How Many Miles to Bethlehem?: Kevin Crossley-Holland, Peter Malone: Books

Product Description

Bookseller Buyer's Guide, Highlights of the Season, Autumn 2004
This powerful partnership brings a new majesty to the familiar story of the nativity.

The Bookseller, September 17, 2004
A wonderful book for reading aloud, while at the same time relishing the idiosyncratic illustrations.

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Inside This Book (Learn More)

First Sentence
I AM MARY. Read the first page

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Concordance

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Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover

Customer Reviews

3 Reviews

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
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Average Customer Review

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

How Many Miles to Bethlehem, 14 Dec 2004

By	"jennyhr" - See all my reviews

I could not agree less with Karon of Lancs. This is a marvellous book , both in its words and in its pictures.Both my four-year-old daughter (to whom I read a great deal, we own at least half a dozen Nativity Story books) and I delight in the book. I will be presenting a copy of the book to the Primary School where I teach Year Six (10-11 year old) children.I know that pupils of all ages will enjoy it. Kevin Crossley-Holland's telling of the story is both imaginative and instructive. His use of language will open children's ears to the beauty of richly figurative prose. Thanks to the vivid narratives the reader feels physically and emotionally present at the scene. Even without the wonderful text the book would be a rare gem. Peter Malone's illustrations are gorgeous. They have an immediate impact with their luscious colours and elegant design, and, on further examination, are full of witty and erudite detail. They manage to be both entirely fresh and original, and at the same time, full of reference to the long tradition of paintings of the Nativity It is a shame we do not see much, much more of Peter Malone's work - he has a great talent.
This book is the perfect solution to much of my Christmas present buying : all my god-children will be receiving copies, and quite a few other children (and one or two literary and artistic adults) as well.

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10 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

How many miles to Bethlehem?, 18 Nov 2004

By	Karon (Lancs United Kingdom) - See all my reviews

I ordered this because as a family we didn't own a children's book of the Nativity story and I also work in school with children aged 5-7. I was very disappointed as this was recommended in a bookclub for age 4 and above. I found the text very odd for children of this age group (or anyone
actually). and the language used in some cases unsuitable and way over young children's heads.
On the opeing page "I am Mary. Tight as a drum" I showed it to my colleagues and we all agreed. The only plus point was that it looked like a lovely book, until you open it. "Never judge a book by it's cover". The illustrations had been highly praised and some I did quite like, but not enough to ever use this book. If I'd picked it up in Waterstone's I would have put it straight back down!

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Beautiful re-telling of a familiar story, 30 Nov 2007

By	A. Vaughan "book lover" (Cambridge, UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: How Many Miles to Bethlehem? (Paperback)

This is the best re-telling of the Christmas story that we have found and I would wholeheartedly recommend it for the style in which it is written and for the illustrations. It is told simply, with a refreshing lack of sentimentality and in beautiful language. I think it's a shame that somebody gave it such a low rating below - it really doesn't deserve it. It certainly doesn't talk down to its audience, but if you want to read something to your children (ours are four) that possesses real poetry and that they can keep returning to in years to come, then this fits the bill.

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