Meet the Strangest Christmas Picture Book You’ll Ever Love

In the past I’ve done posts about Weirdo Picture Books and others on Out-of-Print Crimes Against Humanity.  Today’s featured book could have fallen into both categories, were it not for the fact that there is justice in the universe.  Previously out of print, 1997’s A Small Miracle by Peter Collington is back by popular demand and now available from Knopf in paperback.  And well it should be.  There’s a reason it was featured in the Publishers Weekly 12th Annual Off-the-Cuff Awards as booksellers’ Book We’re Sorriest to See Go Out of Print.

Here is the plot of the book as described in the SLJ review:

“An old woman, living alone in a trailer, spends her days playing an accordion on the street for money. But times are especially difficult, even in this middle-class town. Desperate, she sells her accordion for cash, only to have it stolen by a masked bandit who then pilfers the poor box from the local church and vandalizes its manger scene. Intercepting the thief, the woman is able to return the money and does her best to set the scene to rights. Then, exhausted and hungry, she collapses in the snow. The manger figures come to life and take her home, where they all pitch in to see that she has her accordion back and that she has food. It’s all part of the miracle that none of the merchants or townspeople are at all surprised at the sight of the small figures making deals at the pawn shop or prowling the aisles at the supermarket.”

I’m glad they mentioned the supermarket because that may have been the point in the book when it totally won me over.  Stealing from old ladies can be pretty dark stuff, and the elderly collapsing in the snow is worse, but there’s something so ridiculously charming about the tiny creche figures pushing shopping carts down fluorescent lighted lanes that you can’t help but give in to it.

I wish I could find an image of the shopping scene because it really is worth it.  The book is just chock full of these small details that make you want to read and reread the story.  There is, for example, the fact that Mary is always holding the Baby Jesus, but that doesn’t get in the way of her helping out.  Though obviously she’s not able to remove the old woman from the snow with the other guys, note that she’s holding their Three Kings gifts, crooks, etc. while they take care of things.  You know what the book really reminded me of?  The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.  It’s that remarkable combination of humor and affection and an honestly religious tone.  This is a straight up Christian Christmas book.  Really good ones are out there, but they’re often a bit more difficult to find than you’d think.  This is one of the few.

And who is Peter Collington?  Well, according to his website he’s an Englishman residing in Dorset. In his picture books he prefers a kind of wordless paneled technique reminiscent of folks like Raymond Briggs.  As far as I can ascertain he’s done a lot of other things lately, but not so much in the way of picture books.  He seems to have stopped sometime around the late 90s.  If anyone knows more about him, I’d love to hear it.

So there you go.  Should you feel inclined to locate a weirdly touching little wordless tale for your holiday enjoyment, seek thee this puppy.  I guarantee it’s like nothing you’ve read.  And should you have other odd holiday books you’d like to give a shout out to, feel free to list them in the comments here.

For the record, someone did turn this book into a short film, but I feel like the weirdness of the book is completely lost in the translation.  Still, if you’re curious you can go here.

Thanks to Alison Morris for the introduction to this book!

Filed under: Uncategorized