Go Tell It On the Mountain by Debbie Trafton O’Neal. Age: pre-K- grade 5. Library Section 11 A: Pre-K, Religion and Character-Building. Debbie is a much-published Augsburg Fortress (the ELCA’s publishing company) author. Her books for kids often are compilations of craft activities centered on liturgical seasons such as Advent, Christmas and Easter. However, this time out she has created a wonderful story book for children, the text being the spiritual, “Go, Tell It On the Mountain.”
When I read books to my kids with song lyrics as the text, I ALWAYS sang the book to them, whether it was “Sweet Betsy from Pike” or “Jesus, Our Brother Kind and Good.” It doesn’t matter if you can stay on pitch or not. Sing it and encourage them to sing it with you. Your kids will LOVE it when you sing their books, so just DO IT.
As an artist and art teacher, when selecting story books I consider the illustrations very important. They must be of high artistic quality and must advance the story, whatever their style whether it be pastels, paintings, or collages. This book’s illustrations are scratchboard. What’s that? You scribble different crayon colors all over a thick white paper, pressing the crayon hard to deliver lots of wax to the paper. Then you coat the whole paper with black India ink and let it dry. Then you use a sharp pointed tool to draw lines the etch through the ink to reveal the crayon colors underneath. This illustrator, Fiona King, uses the black ink to represent the “cold winter’s night that was so deep” on the night of Christ’s birth. The scenes are pastoral, with hills, woods, shepherds, and sheep. People in the scenes have their hands up to their mouths, shouting the wondrous news of Jesus’ birth. The page borders are folk-art quilt patterns. After the manger scene, the next page becomes two children looking at the same manger which now lies under their Christmas tree, bringing the historical night up to the present day. They and their family await Christ’s birth with joyful anticipation.
The end of the book includes several pages of Christmas Fun – making personalized Christmas cards, making jingle bell necklaces, placing a candle in your window to light the way for Christ’s coming, making a family banner and a manger diorama. There are also hand motions for the song, “Go Tell It On the Mountain.” O’Neal is so creative. Enjoy! ( )