Customer Reviews

Good King Wenceslas

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"Good King Wenceslas" Illustrated by Christopher Manson
North-South Books.
The Illustrator, Christopher Manson, has gone through a great deal of work to produce a beautiful book of art telling the story of "Good King Wenceslas", as well known by the carol of the same name, written by John Mason Neale in 1853.
The colorful illustrations match the Christmas season, with the front piece and the back piece both being intertwined holly. The book presents the entire carol. Each stanza of the carol faces an illustration portraying the action in the song: for example, at the beginning, the good King is actually looking out a window, with the wind obviously ruffling the pages of a book on a chair. King Wenceslas is presented as young man, with a concerned look on his face as he sees the tattered peasant "...gathering winter fuel." As the Page and the King carry food and pine logs to the peasant's dwelling, the winter cold grows harsher. The King tells the Page to walk in his foot steps, and the Page finds warmth in each foot print. I have always thought of this as an echo of Christ telling St. Peter to leave the boat and walk across the water to Him.
I look forward to my granddaughter, Katlain, using the music at the back of the book to play this carol at Christmas time, while my daughter, her aunt, supports her on the piano. Excellent book! That can become a family heirloom.

An excellent children's book of one of the greatest carols ever. This carol above all proclaims the social justice of the Gospel; the need to share what we have with others, even in the face of our own adversity, and at the loss of our own pleasure. It's only the more wonderful in that it's based on the story of an actual king, Wenceslas, the patron saint of the Czech Republic, who worked tirelessly for his five years in office to bring Christianity to his country of Bohemia. With very beautiful illustrations with a Gothic style of writing, the entire carol is included, a verse for each illustration, along with the notes at the end to sing along with. Children of about 30 should enjoy this work as well.

Beautiful pictures. Uplifting story. Definitely for Christmas. So glad to have this book in my library of good books.

This book really gives meaning to the well known song. Whereas most children know this song, or at least recognize it, the words don't mean anything to them. This book brings the song alive. With a brief background and wonderful pictures (and the music and lyrics at the back), this was a perfect purchase - so glad I got it.

In 1853, an Angelican priest named John M. Neale wrote the lyrics to the Christmas carol "Good King Wenceslas," which tells the story of a real 10th century Christian Behmian king, well known for his generosity. In the book Good King Wenceslas, illustrator Tim Ladwig brings this carol to life, showing the king watching a poor man gathering sticks for his fire one bone-chilling, snowy evening. The king instructs his young page to gather food and wine for the man, then the two walk into the snowy night to deliver it. The page isn't sure he can make it through the deep drifts, so the king instructs him to walk behind him, in his footsteps. Finally, they deliver the food and drink to the poor man, and the carol reminds us:

"Therefore, Christians all, be sure,
wealth or rank possessing,
ye who now will bless the poor,
shall yourselves find blessing."

The book uses all the verses of the song; except for a short introduction (which explains who the king was), there is no additional text. The last page of the book features simple piano sheet music and all the lyrics to the carol.

What I Like: Tim Ladwig's illustrations are gorgeous, featuring the shadows and lights cast by candles and fireplaces, and the glow of the moon on snowy scenes. He does a superb job of bringing this traditional carol to life. The cover of the book does the inner illustrations no justice at all.

I also must admit I didn't know the carol before reading this book. No matter. I hopped onto YouTube to listen to it, and immediately enjoyed it. I also let my children listen to the carol before we read the book. (You could also look at the book while the carol is playing, but there are a number of pages in the book that are wordless. These add a great deal to the story, showing the page gathering food, and showing the poor man's reaction to the gift of the food - but make it difficult to listen to the carol and look at the book at the same time.)

What I Dislike: Some of the lyrics are slightly modified from the original version, presumably to make the carol easier for young children to understand.

Overall Rating: Excellent.

Kristina Seleshanko, Christian Children's Book Review

This is one of our favorite picture books! We enjoy it throughout the year but especially on the Feast of St. Stephen (December 26th) and on the Feast of St. Wenceslas (September 28). It is fun to enjoy this one while listening to the song.

The art work is beautiful, but I expected it to be a story - not just the words to the Christmas carol.

This book is a photocopy of original manuscripts. Interesting, but expected a book I could read to the kids with cool illustrations.

I love Tim Ladwig's beautiful illustrations. They bring this favorite Christmas carol to life, creating characters who live and breath. They capture the warmth of the king's castle, the icy cold of the winter landscape, the joy of the peasant family when the king and page pays their visit to bring them food, drink and firewood. I especially love the final scene of King Wenceslas smiling as he holds the peasant's cooing baby. Neale frames the text of the song with a little narrative about the real King Wenceslas, and the illustrations show a boy and his dog listening to a street musician in Prague in front of the statue of St. Wenceslas. The song then become the boy's imagined vision of the words the musician is singing. The page-boy in the illustrations of the song looks like the boy listening to the musician (and has the same dog) and the poor man gathering fuel looks like the musician. The book's final scene shows the boy bringing the musician a bagel and coffee, re-emphasizing the song's message of sharing. The book also includes a historical note at the end about the real Saint Wenceslas and the origin of the hymn.

This a legend from my childhood, one of the many I was told nothin of. buy this one for your kids, so that they may know that wich I knew not.