Summary
The book is narrated in first person perspective by Beth Bradley, daughter of Bob and Grace Bradley and big sister of a boy named Charlie.
Beth and Charlie go to the same school as the Herdman siblings: Ralph, Imogene, Leroy, Claude, Ollie, and Gladys. Born one year apart, the Herdmans are notorious for their misbehavior, including smoking, saying bad words, drinking jug wine, shoplifting, and committing arson. They have never been disciplined because their father hopped on 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).
As the town gets ready for the holidays, Mrs. Bradley has been tasked with directing the annual Christmas pageant. When Charlie, who is a frequent target of the Herdmans' pranks, tells the sextet that the church offers free snacks during Sunday school, the siblings go for the first time and on the same day Mrs. Bradley is assigning roles for the Christmas pageant. To Mrs. Bradley and the Sunday school students' shock, all six Herdmans volunteer for the lead roles in the Christmas pageant: Mary (Imogene), Joseph (Ralph), the Three Wise Men (Leroy, Claude, and Ollie), and the Angel of the Lord (Gladys), the last of whom likens her role to a comic book superhero. Since they have bullied all the usual cast members into remaining silent during the call for volunteers, Mrs. Bradley has no choice but to cast them. 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 Beth 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: The Herdmans fight during rehearsal and Imogene's smoking in the women's bathroom leads someone into calling the firefighters out of the mistaken belief that the church is on fire and all inside evacuate. When the firefighters do arrive, they end up putting out an actual fire caused by a lit oven that hadn't been turned off during the chaos. The Reverend Hopkins tells Mrs. Bradley his shared concerns with the locals: The Herdmans don't have the Christmas spirit.
On the opening night of the Christmas pageant, the townsfolk are surprised by the Herdmans, whose unconventional performances actually make the whole show much more realistic and moving: Instead of walking on and off stage like actors, the siblings 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 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, Beth 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] [1]
Stage and screen adaptations
The book was adapted by Robinson into a play which was first performed on December 4, 1981 in West Chester, PA, [2] and was first professionally performed on November 26, 1982, by the Seattle Children's Theatre. [3]
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. [4]
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. [5] The film was theatrically released on November 8, 2024. [6]
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