cover image What Star Is This?

What Star Is This?

Joseph Slate, , illus. by Alison Jay. . Putnam, $15.99 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-399-24014-0

Everyone knows where the bright Christmas star leads, but did anyone ever wonder where it came from?In this sort of prequel to the Nativity, Slate (the Miss Bindergarten books) imagines, in rhyming couplets (with the title refrain), the origins of the celestial body that helps announce Jesus' birth to the world. Jay's (Picture This ) crackle-varnished oils featuring a baby comet racing through blue-black deep space past the planets and constellations exude a playful folk-art charm. Ages 4-up. (Sept.)