The Best Christmas Pageant Ever: An Award-Winning Holiday Classic of Laughter and Christmas Spirit―Now a Major Motion Picture from Lionsgate (The Best Ever)

This should be a Christmas classic. The movie is okay, but the book is much better! The whole family will find the story charming, funny and a testament to Christmas.

Hilarious and a great Christmas story! We bought the movie first here on Amazon, and have repeatedly watched it. So we decided to buy the children’s book that inspired the movie. It’s a fast, fun read and teaches the real meaning of Christmas. The story is Christian-themed but doesn’t proselytize. It makes a great gift to any young person with its red foil cover and colorful illustrations.

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever makes us all laugh, but also brings tears to our eyes as the true meaning of Christmas is beautifully captured in Barbara Robinson's simple words. My father has read me this book every Christmas. I have the words memorized. It has also created a bond between us and is a tradition that strengthens family ties.

So, I’ve read this book several times throughout my life and the story itself improves as I mature. Yes, it’s a book meant to be read to children, but as a kid you don’t pick up on all the underlying details and meaning. The prose is simple but gets its point across. It is a deeply Christian book that shares a message about mercy and the change that can happen when you fully embrace the gift of His birth. I have noticed that there are a lot of one star reviews that harp on the fact that the Herdman children are rotten to their cores. That they smoke and steal and all manner of things. These reviews complain because the word sex is in the book. Well, they’re not wrong. The Herdmans are kinda awful bullies, and the word sex IS in the book— twice, I think. But I would be remiss in writing a review if I didn’t say that those people who are complaining about those things completely missed the point of the book. They completely miss the point of their own religion, in my opinion. This book is meant for sinners to see that there is another way, and to remind Christians like myself that Christ came here for ALL of us— especially the sinners— and we’d all better be grateful for that because news flash: we are all sinners… especially the prideful among us who would turn away children that need guidance simply because they have a bad reputation, those who would ignore a person’s spiritual growth because that person knows the word sex, or isn’t clean to the standards of the person doing the judging. Don’t read this book if you think yourself above sin. Don’t read this book if you think you’re the only one God sent His Son to save. DO read this book if you want to see prideful, uptight Christians put in the hot seat for once. DO read this book if you want a fun story about a person’s changing character. DO read this book if you want your kids, or yourself to understand the significance of Christmas.

I read this book in elementary school and now 33 years later I read it again but it was different. Through the eyes of an adult, you can picture everything going on throughout the book. You can feel the frustration of the mother but find the humor in it. A great holiday read.

This story of Christmas has been on my favorites list since I first discovered it shortly after it was published in 1965! I was teaching second grade and chose to read it to my class, a chapter a day. Their feedback was great! They identified with the bullying, poverty, haughtiness, good and bad parenting, children's behavior on stage, competitiveness, dealing with mistakes and surprises, and prejudice: all of which are presented in this refreshing retelling of the Christmas Story. Barbara Robinson has a wonderful gift of telling this story in a frank, yet hilarious manner. The Herdmans were enticed to church when they discovered they'd get snacks. The director's family going without dinner because she was so caught up in her volunteer position that she forgot to fix it. The Herdmans' transition from outcasts to heros was especially poignant to me. I recommend this book to all who know the biblical accounts of Christ's birth and can appreciate how mankind has attempted to retell it throughout history. This simple retelling, written so children can understand it, is the most meaningful to me. It is truly the Best Christmas Pageant Ever!

This is a wonderful story that highlights the real meaning of Christmas. Simple, funny, with truth and compassion mixed in. "Well,' Mother said, 'just suppose you had never heard the Christmas story, and didn’t know anything about it, and then somebody told it to you. What would you think?' My father looked at her for a minute or two and then he said, 'Well, I guess I would think it was pretty disgraceful that they couldn’t find any room for a pregnant woman except in the stable.' I was amazed. It didn’t seem natural for my father to be on the same side as the Herdmans." "They looked like the people you see on the six o’clock news—refugees, sent to wait in some strange ugly place, with all their boxes and sacks around them. It suddenly occurred to me that this was just the way it must have been for the real Holy Family, stuck away in a barn by people who didn’t much care what happened to them. They couldn’t have been very neat and tidy either, but more like this Mary and Joseph (Imogene’s veil was cockeyed as usual, and Ralph’s hair stuck out all around his ears)." "Everyone had been waiting all this time for the Herdmans to do something absolutely unexpected. And sure enough, that was what happened."

I have loved this book for years! And love gifting it to young readers. The Herdmans us all see the Christmas Story through fresh eyes.

The best Christmas read! I read this book out loud with my kids and what fun we had. The kids were vaguely aware of the Christmas story, but hadn't ever thought of it the way the Herdmans did. So when it did come up, we did stop and ponder on it.. Saying 'thats actually right!' Smaran says - it was a great book telling us about the story of Jesus and explained about deep feelings about Christmas Avni says - the books is about the spirit of Christmas and you can always change.. It's never too late to become loving and grateful for the spirit of Christmas.

I wanted to read this with my 10 yr old and 5 yr old sons, to share one of my happiest childhood memories with them. Much to my delight, they both got right into the story and cheered with happiness at the end. And now we have a new family tradition, reading this on Christmas Eve. So happy. :-)

This book was a favorite of mine as a child and I enjoyed rereading it even more as an adult. It's funny and heartwarming without being overly sentimental.

Una bonita y optimista historia navideña, perfecta para leer en familia o para practicar el inglés. La edición de Harper Collins es muy sencilla y el papel tiene aspecto de reciclado (aspecto tosco y color grisáceo).

This was my first read of this Christmas classic and I am glad that I finally got a chance to read this funny and charming take on the Christmas pageant story. I laughed and I cried. The Herdmans’ interpretation of the pageant helps to bring the wonder and the hardships of the story to life.