Book Review — ‘Father Christmas and the Donkey’

An old donkey longs to be needed in a children’s story that defies stereotypes of the elderly in picture books

The story of the birth of Christ is at once poignant and joyful, and great Christmas stories — including Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol — reflect both aspects. One of the rare picture books that does it is Elizabeth Clark’s Father Christmas and the Donkey (Viking, 1993), illustrated by Jan Omerod.

A donkey — old, lame, and abandoned — finds his life transformed by helping Father Christmas deliver the last of his gifts in this timeless fable for ages 3–8. On Christmas Eve the donkey is searching for food amid frozen grass when he hears hoofbeats. He sees Father Christmas and his reindeer and gains a new sense of purpose after offering to help them finish their rounds.

This plot could easily have devolved into treacle, or a Christmas trifle. But Clark, a vicar’s daughter who became a broadcaster for the old BBC Children’s Hour, invests the story with real feeling. She shows, in the subtlest of ways, how the old donkey has longed to be feel needed: “The sack was heavy, but the donkey’s back was strong, and though his leg was stiff, it was wonderful how little it hurt.”

Omerod (1946–2013), an Australian illustrator won the Australian Picture Book of the Year Award for her earlier Sunshine, raises Clark’s story to a higher power with a blend of magic and realism that that…