Imagining the sounds of the animal on that first Christmas, the author invites young readers to hear the sounds of that miraculous night. Paintings accompany the text, bringing the story to life and inviting readers to stop and listen . . . perhaps they will hear the true meaning of Christmas. Readers, young and old alike, will find much to treasure in this charming picture book.

Highly recommended. ( )

This book sorta gives another take on the birth of Jesus. It takes it into a level where children can understand it.

Prolific children's author Dandi Daley Mackall, whose previous picture-book explorations of the Nativity story include such titles as The Light of Christmas and The Shepherd's Christmas Story, turns here to the concept of the "Silent Night" of Jesus' birth, highlighting the fact that it wasn't so silent after all. With a rhyming text that makes good use of onomatopoeia - "It was not such a silent night. / Hear the who, who, who as a night owl flew, / 'Cross a winding trail where a cold wind blew. / Mary knew her time must be nearly due..." - she builds this telling of the story around the sounds of that night, from the mooing of cows in the manger, to the flutter of angels' wings in the sky.

I haven't read very many of Mackall's books - although this one is from the 'mainstream' Dutton, she seems to publish mostly with explicitly Christian presses (Zonderkidz, Tyndale House, Augsburg Fortress Publishers), whose books don't often make it, in great numbers, to my public library system - so I was curious to see how I would like Listen to the Silent Night. Overall, I was favorably impressed, finding the narrative quite readable, and the artwork, done by Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher, lovely. I appreciated the fact that this retelling of the Nativity, with its many sound words, is accessible to younger readers, but also interesting, in its 'subversion' of the Silent Night theme, for older ones. All in all, a solid Nativity story, one I would recommend for younger children, particularly animals lovers, who appreciate rhyming texts. ( )

A clever take on the Christmas story with lovely illustrations. ( )