Let's Bust a Recap : The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever has been on my radar for years. I missed out on it as a kid, and I've had my eye out for it for quite some time. But when the trailer for a feature film adaptation dropped earlier this year, I went ahead and ordered myself a copy from AbeBooks. I read it the day before my husband took me to see the movie in our cute, one-screen, downtown theater.

And I loved it.

And I went back and watched the movie a second time with my mom, sister-in-law, and mother-in-law. 

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever—book and movie—will, without a doubt, become a part of all my future Christmas traditions. 

This beloved children's novel was written by Barbara Robinson and published in 1972. It features the six awful Herdman siblings who, after showing up to Sunday school for the free snacks, decide to star in the annual Christmas pageant by volunteering for the six main roles: Mary, Joseph, the angel, and the three wise men. None of the other kids dare stand up to them, and the whole hilarious tale is narrated in the first person by Beth Bradley whose mom is directing the pageant for the first time after Mrs. Armstrong—the usual director—falls and breaks her leg. As word spreads that the Herdmans have hijacked the pageant, the whole town expects disaster, but, in a beautiful twist, the Herdmans end up teaching the town the true meaning of Christmas. 

I know I already said I loved it, but you guys: I. Loved. It. This little novel delighted me from beginning to end, and weighing in at a slim 80 pages—including full page illustrations—you can easily read it in one sitting. I genuinely laughed out loud the whole way through until getting to the pageant itself at which point tears were streaming down my face. What an absolute treasure of a book.

And the movie! So much care was taken with this 2024 adaptation. The majority of the screenplay was lifted straight from the book. In my year of reading/watching book-to-movie adaptations: The Best Christmas Pageant Ever was another smashing success. I think the book comes off a little funnier and the movie a bit more sentimental but both are absolutely wonderful, and, as I said above, I'll be reading and watching in all my Christmases to come. What a joy! I cannot possibly recommend this little gem enthusiastically enough. Get your hands on a copy and read it immediately. 

Do you have any books or movies you like to watch every year at Christmastime? What are your favorite Christmas traditions?