The Stable Rat and Other Christmas Poems

Julia Cunningham made history in 1965 with the publication of her groundbreaking book Dorp Dead! Among her many honors are the Christopher Medal for Come to the Edge and a Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor for The Flight of the Sparrow. Her The Treasure Is the Rose was a National Book Award Finalist. Julia Cunningham lives in Santa Barbara, California.

Anita Lobel's name is synonymous with the best in children's literature. She is the creator of such classics as Alison's Zinnia and Away from Home, and she received a Caldecott Honor for her illustrations in On Market Street. She is the creator of two books about her cat, Nini, One Lighthouse, One Moon (a New York Times Best Illustrated Book), and Nini Here and There. Her childhood memoir, No Pretty Pictures: A Child of War, was a finalist for the National Book Award. Anita Lobel lives in New York City.

What a gathering it was! There were the quiet ox, the clucking hen, a cow, six sheep, a horse, and other animals. But no one looked at the stable rat--except the baby, who not only looked but loved.

In these startlingly powerful poems, Julia Cunningham captures the mystery and magic of the Nativity for readers of every age. And Anita Lobel's magnificent paintings and brilliant iconography give each poem a setting that is at once personal and universal.