The Tiny Star by Arthur Ginolfi

Reviewed by Rick Nau

Illustration From The Tiny Star, Drawn By Pat Schories

Author’s note: I wrote this review of Arthur Ginofi’s The Tiny Star last summer as I thought ahead to Christmas. I hope you enjoy it and that you’ll go on to buy Arthur’s wonderful story as a gift for your kids this Christmas.

* * *

It’s 110 degrees in the shade. The plants are wilting. The birds are panting. The air conditioner’s cranking away full blast. What am I doing reviewing a Christmas book for very young children in the middle of the summer in L.A.?

Well, there’s nothing strange about this. Irving Berlin wrote “White Christmas” in the middle of the summer while he was living in the broiling desert near Palm Springs. The classic Christmas film “It’s A Wonderful Life” was shot in the summer in Los Angeles in the midst of a heat wave. All that snow was sugar, water and soap flakes.

So why The Tiny Star? Because there’s something very, very special about this tiny little book, which I will attempt to divulge without completely giving away the story. Then again, as this book will only be purchased by parents and grandparents for their kids and grandkids, there’s no danger of spoiling the story. Nevertheless, I digress.

All right, there’s this tiny star, much smaller than any of the other stars in the sky, so tiny that no one on earth can see it. As we know, God named all the stars, and this one He named Starlet. Starlet is quite sad, because if no one can see her, then what’s her purpose in life? I suppose a lot of us ask ourselves the same question. Even King David did, some 3000 years ago: “I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills his purpose for me (Psalm 57:2).”

As we shall see, God has a very special purpose to fulfill in Starlet, one she could never imagine by comparing herself to all of the other stars around her. And so it it that God has a plan for each one of us, one we could never imagine.

Now one thing that’s most wonderful about this story is that it answers an age old question in a way that only a child can understand. Where, oh where, did the Star of Bethlehem come from? Adults will ask: Was it a comet? Was it a conjunction of planets? Was it a supernova? Children would never ask this sort of question. Nor would they accept any one of them as an answer. But one answer they would accept, and that’s the one given in Arthur Ginolfi’s, The Tiny Star. And that’s because there’s a touch of the miraculous in it.

If you have a moment, listen to this interview with the author, which tells the story of how “The Tiny Star” came into being.

I give this book 5 out of 5 tiny stars! Beautifully illustrated by Pat Schories.

And if your kids or grandkids are between 8 & 12, consider giving them Theodora’s Children as a Christmas gift. Read the review here to find out what it’s all about.