A review by backonthealex
Sun Moon Star by Kurt Vonnegut

4.0

While I'm a big fan of Kurt Vonnegut's novels, you could have knocked me over with a feather when I discovered he had written a children's book, and one about the Nativity, no less. And it is exactly what you would expect from Vonnegut. He tells the story of that first Christmas by looking at what the Creator of the universe, who was all knowing in heaven, sees and (mis)interprets the night of Its birth as It transitions from God to human. He never uses the name Jesus, always referring to Him as the Creator, which makes sense if you read the Epigraph Vonnegut included from the Book of Matthew in the Bible: Matthew 1:23 - "Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us." And while this version of the incarnation sounds like a rather highbrow, overly intellectualized rendering of the Nativity story, it is actually very child friendly, told without overly simplifying or condescending to the reader. Sun Moon Star is an oversized book, its pages made of heavy colored paper with cutouts that have both clarity and simplicity to the story being told. According to Seven Stories Press, the illustrations were done before the story was written, and Vonnegut wrote Sun Moon Star around the them.