Author | Barbara Robinson |
---|---|
Illustrator | Judith Gwyn Brown |
Language | English |
Publisher | Harper & Row |
Publication date | 1972 |
Publication place | United States |
Pages | 150 |
ISBN | 0-06-025044-5 |
OCLC | 588978 |
Followed by | The Best Halloween Ever |
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever (titled The Worst Kids in the World in Australia, New Zealand and the UK) is a children's novel written by Barbara Robinson in 1972. It tells the story of six misfit children who volunteer to star in their town's Sunday school Christmas pageant, and end up teaching the town the true meaning of Christmas.
The book is narrated in first person perspective by Elizabeth "Beth" Bradley, daughter of the pageant's director.
The six Herdman children - Imogene, Ralph, Claude, Leroy, Ollie, and Gladys - are notorious for their rowdy misfit behavior, including cigar smoking, cussing, drinking jug wine, shoplifting, and committing arson. They have never been disciplined because their father hopped a train and never came back when Gladys was just a baby and their mother is always working multiple shifts to make ends meet. Despite their poor performance, the Herdmans steadily pass through elementary school (since holding any one of them back would mean having two or more of them in the same grade).
They go to Sunday school for the first time after being told that the church offers snacks. The narrator's mother is flabbergasted when they all volunteer for the lead roles in the Christmas pageant: Mary (Imogene), Joseph (Ralph), the Three Wise Men (Claude, Ollie, and Leroy), and the Angel of the Lord (Gladys), the last of whom likens her role to a character from Amazing Comics. Since they have bullied all the usual cast members into remaining silent during the call for volunteers, the director has no choice but to cast them. Furthermore, an actual infant would be traditionally cast in the Christmas pageant as Jesus, but ever since the Herdmans took over the other major roles, all the local mothers with babies keep their children away out of fear, prompting Beth's mother to use a doll instead.
Having never heard the Christmas story before, the Herdmans take an uncharacteristic interest, through which the narrator is surprised to find herself, and her parents, thinking more seriously about the story's harsher aspects: e.g., that the innkeeper forced a pregnant woman and her baby to sleep in a barn, and the Holy Family were on the run from King Herod, who wanted the baby Jesus killed.
Everyone in town is expecting the Christmas pageant to be a disaster, but the Herdmans' unconventional performances actually make the whole show much more realistic and moving: instead of walking on and off stage like actors, the Herdmans are a little uncertain about where to go and what to do, as the real-life Holy Family and Wise Men must have been; instead of laying the doll representing Jesus in the manger, Imogene insists on holding it, as if it is really her child; the Wise Men choose to bring the baby Jesus a ham from the Herdmans' own gift basket instead of the "crummy" frankincense and myrrh from the story; the shepherds are sufficiently terrified of Gladys to look authentically awed by her announcement of Jesus' birth; and during the final scene, the narrator looks over from the choir and is dumbstruck to see Imogene weeping softly while hugging the "baby". By common agreement, it is the best Christmas pageant the town has ever had. [1]
Robinson first published the story in McCall's magazine before it was adapted into a book, which sold over 800,000 copies. [1]
The book was adapted by Robinson into a play which was first performed on November 26, 1982, by the Seattle Children's Theatre. [2]
The book was adapted into a television movie on ABC in 1983, starring Loretta Swit and Fairuza Balk, then an unknown actress. Robinson also wrote the adaptation's teleplay. [1]
The Herdmans were featured in two of Barbara Robinson's book sequels, The Best Halloween Ever and The Best School Year Ever. [3]
Dallas Jenkins, creator and director of the TV series The Chosen , announced in late 2023 that he was signed to direct a feature-length film adaptation of the book. Lionsgate and Kingdom Story Company collaborated on the production and filming began in Canada in December 2023. [4] The film was theatrically released on November 8, 2024. [5]
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is a fictional reindeer created by Robert L. May. Rudolph is usually depicted as the ninth and youngest of Santa Claus's reindeer, using his luminous red nose to lead the reindeer team and guide Santa's sleigh on Christmas Eve. Though he initially receives ridicule for his nose as a fawn, the brightness of his nose is so powerful that it illuminates the team's path through harsh winter weather. Ronald D. Lankford, Jr., described Rudolph's story as "the fantasy story made to order for American children: each child has the need to express and receive approval for his or her individuality and/or special qualities. Rudolph's story embodies the American Dream for the child, writ large because of the cultural significance of Christmas."
Maid Marian and her Merry Men is a British children's television series created and written by Tony Robinson and directed by David Bell. It began in 1989 on BBC1 and ran for four series, with the last episode shown in 1994. The show was a partially musical comedy retelling of the legend of Robin Hood, placing Maid Marian in the role of leader of the Merry Men, and reducing Robin to an 'incompetent' ex-tailor.
Rankin/Bass Animated Entertainment was an American production company located in New York City. It was known for its seasonal television specials, usually done in stop motion animation. Rankin/Bass's stop-motion productions are recognizable by their visual style of doll-like characters with spheroid body parts and ubiquitous powdery snow using an animation technique called Animagic.
Barbara Robinson was an American author and writer of the children's books The Best Christmas Pageant Ever (1972) and The Best School Year Ever (1994).
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh is a 1977 American animated musical anthology fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Productions and distributed by Buena Vista Distribution. It was first released on a double bill with The Littlest Horse Thieves on March 11, 1977.
Victor Ambrus was a Hungarian-born British illustrator of history, folk tales, and animal story books. He also became known from his appearances on the Channel 4 television archaeology series Time Team, on which he visualised how sites under excavation may have once looked. Ambrus was an Associate of the Royal College of Art and a Fellow of both the Royal Society of Arts and the Royal Society of Painters, Etchers and Engravers. He was also a patron of the Association of Archaeological Illustrators and Surveyors up until its merger with the Institute for Archaeologists in 2011.
The Koala Brothers is a stop-motion animated children's television series, created by David Johnson. It features the adventures of two koala brothers named Frank and Buster, who pilot an aeroplane as they seek to help their friends in a sleepy town in the Australian outback. The series was narrated by Jonathan Coleman. 78 episodes were produced over 3 seasons, alongside one Christmas special.
The Bear Who Slept Through Christmas is an animated Christmas television special originally broadcast in the United States on NBC, December 17, 1973. The special was produced by DePatie-Freleng Enterprises, executive producer Norman Sedawie, and starred the voices of Tom Smothers, Arte Johnson and Barbara Feldon, with narration by Casey Kasem.
James Howe is an American children's writer who has written more than 79 juvenile and young adult fiction books. He is best known for the Bunnicula series about a vampire rabbit that sucks the juice out of vegetables.
The First Christmas: The Story of the First Christmas Snow is a 1975 Christmas stop motion animated television special produced by Rankin/Bass Productions which originally premiered on NBC on December 19, 1975. It is narrated by Angela Lansbury and co-stars Cyril Ritchard.
Dallas Raymond McKennon, sometimes credited as Dal McKennon, was an American actor. He had a career lasting over 50 years.
Four Christmases is a 2008 American Christmas comedy-drama film starring Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon with Robert Duvall, Jon Favreau, Mary Steenburgen, Dwight Yoakam, Tim McGraw, Kristin Chenoweth, Jon Voight, and Sissy Spacek in supporting roles. The film is director Seth Gordon's first studio feature film. It tells the story of a couple who must travel to four family parties after their vacation plans get canceled due to dense fog. The film was produced by New Line Cinema and Spyglass Entertainment and released by Warner Bros. Pictures on November 26, 2008.
The Best Halloween Ever! is a children's book by Barbara Robinson. The book is a sequel to Robinson's earlier work The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.
Imogen, or Imogene, is a female given name of uncertain etymology.
Andrew and Jon Erwin, known as the Erwin Brothers, are American Christian film directors, screenwriters and film producers known for such films as Woodlawn, October Baby, Moms' Night Out and I Can Only Imagine which have collectively grossed more than $150 million worldwide. They are the leaders and co-founders of the production company Kingdom Story Company.
The Chosen is an American Christian historical drama television series. Created, directed, and co-written by filmmaker Dallas Jenkins, it is the first multi-season series about the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth. Primarily set in Judaea and Galilee in the 1st century, the series centers on Jesus and the people who met and followed him. The series stars Jonathan Roumie as Jesus as well as Shahar Isaac, Elizabeth Tabish, Paras Patel, Noah James, and George H. Xanthis.
Angela's Christmas is a 2017 Irish-Canadian animation film directed by Damien O'Connor, written by Will Collins and Damien O'Connor and starring the Oscar nominees Ruth Negga in the role of Angela’s mother, and Lucy O'Connell as Angela. The plot is based on the children's story from Pulitzer Prize winning Irish author Frank McCourt, and is set in Limerick, Ireland in the 1910s. The story revolves around Angela's desire to make sure everyone is having a great Christmas. The film's cast and production team received three nominations at the 46th Daytime Creative Arts Emmy Awards and three at the 2018 Emile Awards.
Kingdom Story Company, is an American film and television studio in partnership with Lionsgate specializing in the production of Christian films. It was founded in 2019 by the Erwin Brothers, Kevin Downes, and Tony Young and has operations in Nashville, Tennessee and Los Angeles, California.
Dallas Jenkins is an American film and television director, writer and producer. He is best known as the creator, director, co-writer and executive producer of The Chosen, the first multi-season series about the life of Jesus of Nazareth. Jenkins' career is focused on Christian media.
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever is a 2024 American Christmas comedy-drama film directed by Dallas Jenkins, based on the 1972 novel by Barbara Robinson. Starring Judy Greer, Pete Holmes, Molly Belle Wright, and Lauren Graham, the plot centers around the Herdmans, a group of juvenile delinquent siblings who have inadvertently found themselves starring in their small town's Christmas pageant.