Module 1: June 6-12 The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson

              The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson




Summary:
The Herdmans: Ralph, Imogene, Leroy, Claude, Ollie and Gladys are just plain horrible.  They lie steal and worst of all smoke cigars.  They are the worst thing that ever happened to the school.  They then begin terrorizing the church and demand they are the leading roles in the annual Christmas Pageant.  The Herman kids have never heard the Christmas story before and how they go about interpreting the story is rather crude and unusual.  What happens in the end will surprise the Herdmans and the rest of the town, as they bring the true meaning back to Christmas.

Read it Again?
Absolutely!!  This was a fun book with lots of twists and turns.  It is very heartwarming and is a good reminder about the true meaning of Christmas.


Library Use:
This would be a fun book to read around Christmas for a book club.  The students could perform skits from the book for the parents and other students.

Reviews:

From School Library Journal

Gr 3-6-This beloved classic by Barbara Robinson (HarpCollins, 1972) about six very unruly children who teach a whole church about the true meaning of the birth of Christ is brought to life by the narrator, C. J. Critt. By using only her voice, she gives each character its own personality. With slight voice inflections and gentle changes in the pacing of the narration, she gives listeners a real understanding of the story. While the pacing of the narration is at times a little fast during the body of the text, the pauses at commas, periods and between paragraphs are longer than normally heard in general conversation. While this doesn't distract from the pleasure of just listening to the story, it will cause some problems if used as a read-a-long with older students. Due to the subject matter, public school libraries will find its uses limited. Since the book and the TV movie are so popular, public libraries will find a built in audience.
Ann West LaPrise, Detroit Public Library, MI
Copyright 1998 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

"One of the best Christmas books ever." -- Publishers Weekly

References:
www.mackin.com
www.amazon.com

Bibliography:
Robinson, B. (1972). The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. New York:  New York. Harper Collins.