Angela and the Baby Jesus [Import] [Hardcover]

Frank McCourt (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 26 pages
• Publisher: Fourth Estate; First Edition. 1 in number line edition (2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0007261691
• ISBN-13: 978-0007261697
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 6.6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,163,222 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I have always been a huge fan of the the American School painters of the 1920s and '30s and I was particularly inspired by Thomas Hart Benton and Grant Wood. I am also drawn to the Works Progress Administration (WPA) muralists. Many of these artists were from the Midwest, like me, and I felt a connection to them. They were storytellers.

That's what I like to do - tell stories. When I plan out the illustrations for a book, I pretend I'm making a movie. The words are like a screenplay and I'm choosing which scenes to bring to life.

Before THE LITTLE ENGINE THAT COULD I never viewed myself as someone who would paint trains with eyeballs and cute little purple elephants. I began realizing who my audience is: little children who would actually be holding one of my books. I thought hard about the books I loved from my own childhood. THE LITTLE ENGINE THAT COULD was always one of my favorites, as was THE POKY LITTLE PUPPY, THE STORY OF FERDINAND and Virginia Lee Burton's books. I began thinking about creating books that, like these, might someday become a child's favorite. This is where the idea for OTIS started.

I approach both writing and illustrating enthusiastically. If I'm going to illustrate a manuscript that someone else has written, it's got to be something that I love. I have to love a story enough to do it and make it mine. I hope that doesn't sound overly egotistical. But I feel that the book becomes as much mine as the author's, and as much the author's as mine.

For about a dozen years after getting out of school, I did illustrations for greeting cards, theater posters and magazines. But you never meet your audience when you do a picture for a magazine and it's not really the product - you're just decorating the product. In book publishing, on the other hand, the book is the product. After illustrating my first book, I knew I loved children's publishing right away. I discovered that people cared - teachers, librarians, booksellers and kids. And I got to meet my audience.

This is what I want to do for the rest of my life.

I'm honored that several books that I've illustrated have received awards. Angela Johnson's I DREAM OF TRAINS won the Society of Childrens' Book Writers and Illustrators' Golden Kite Award for picture book illustration. TOY BOAT by Randall DeSeve was awarded the 2007 Publisher's Weekly Cuffie Award for Favorite Picture Book of the Year and the 2008 Great Lakes Book Award for Children's Picture Book. Walt Whitman's WHEN I HEARD THE LEARN'D ASTRONOMER was a Golden Kite Honor Book and also won the 2004 Parents' Choice Gold Award. I've also received two gold medals from the Society of Illustrators.

I live in Cincinnati with my wife and two boys, and two Weimaraners. If you'd like to learn more about my books, you can visit me at www.lorenlong.com.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Tale From Angela, December 17, 2007

By 

tvtv3 "tvtv3" (Sorento, IL United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Angela and the Baby Jesus (Adult Edition) (Hardcover)

Written by Frank McCourt, ANGELA AND THE BABY JESUS is a retelling of a true story that McCourt's mother relayed to him about an event she was involved in as a child. There are two editions of the story, a children's version and an adult version. The children's version is filled with more illustrations. This review is focused on the adult version of the book that has illustrations by Loren Long.

Little seven-year-old Angela sees the baby Jesus alone in the manger at church and decides that he must get cold laying where he is and decides to take him home and warm him up. However, it's not an easy task as one might think.

I love McCourt's writing and I am thankful to him for sharing about his life and now an episode from the life of his mother. McCourt's books are very sad and full of dark humor. However, ANGELA AND THE BABY JESUS isn't quite like that. There is some humor involved, but overall it's a heartwarming story full of the love, joy, and peace that surround the Christmas season.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars angela and the baby Jesus, June 24, 2008

By 

Marie Hall "marieghall" (marieghall) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Angela and the Baby Jesus (Adult Edition) (Hardcover)

This book is short and very appealing to young readers. The message is universal. It's about love.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Delightful Christmas Story for All Ages, October 18, 2011

By 

White Fang (York, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Angela and the Baby Jesus (Adult Edition) (Hardcover)

"Angela and the Baby Jesus" is a delightful light, but moving book suitable for all ages --both children and adult. Although children might enjoy the larger colorful illustrations by Raul Colon in the special children's edition of the book better.This book is a petite 6 3/4 by 6 3/4 inch book which makes it an ideal Christmas stocking stuffer. The very dark illustrations by Loren Long are done in the Chris Van Allsburg style. Just about every other page is a full page full color (even though they are mostly dark --grays, browns, blacks and shades of blue) illustration. Based on his mother's true experience, Frank McCourt weaves a delightful and sentimental Christmas tale between the pages of this book.

Frank McCourt's tale centers around his mother who sees the baby Jesus in the nativity scene in St. Joseph's Church near School House Lane. Because Angela was no stranger to the cold and darkness, she was touched by the fact that the Baby Jesus was cold in the crib at St. Joseph's Church. Angela secretly takes the baby Jesus home and tenderly places Him in her own bed and covers him with warm blankets. At the urging of her brother Pat, her mom discovers the baby Jesus and takes Him and Angela and her brothers Tom and Pat and her sister Aggie to the Church. When they arrive they are met by the parish priest and a policeman who have been looking for the baby Jesus and the thief who took Him. When the priest and the policeman asked who took the baby Jesus, Angela readily admits it and tells them that the Baby Jesus was cold and that she took Him home to warm Him up. Both the policeman and the priest are touched by Angela's act of kindness. That in itself woud make a delightful Christmas story. But the real storyline is what happens next. Her brother does something that captures the true meaning of Christmas that causes even the priest and policeman to cry. You, too, will shed a little tear when you read about what her brother did.

This book captures the true beauty of the Christmas spirit and can be enjoyed by both adults and children in this edition. The description says this is the adult edition but please don't let that deter you from giving the book to someone in 4th Grade or above. Actually I prefer the illustrations in this adult edition over the ones in the children's edition. They seem to be more mysterious and convey the life of Angela more realistically.