Children’s Christmas Book Shows Weakness of Pride, Power of Humility

In a few dozen pages with delightful illustrations and creative storytelling, Anthony DeStefano’s The Grumpy Old Ox takes the imagination into the stable in Bethlehem to witness the first Christmas through the eyes, or rather the experiences, of one of the animals present. For most of the story, the ox could not see, but what he sensed was everything.

I talked with Anthony In the Forum about the profound lessons he wove into so brief a tale, the grumpy, blind ox as the character so transformed in it, and the power of story to imprint lasting truths on minds and hearts open to receiving them. He said good stories, like parables, are layered with deep and profound meaning in characters and their choices, actions, intentions and perceptions.

This seemingly simple children’s book about a prideful, unhappy ox draws on elements of A Christmas Carol and the story of Scrooge, and the child in all of us gets it, and why “he didn’t feel grumpy or old anymore” by the end.

Especially now, but honestly anytime, we can all benefit from such transformation.