I am one of the people who would have prefered to have stayed on Shelfari where things worked the way they should. In the forced transfer my review of this book seems to have been lost and in creating the book anew, since all other reviews for this book, seem to be based on something else, I was not allowed to bring the picture of the book, another goodreads problem.
This book in Swedish has NEVER been a picture book based on a previous chapter book, so what are people on about? Nor has it been called Mary's Little Donkey.
But the book is about Miriam's donkey, or to the Christian world Maria/Marie/Mary. Why was she renamed? I am spending a lot of time trying to understand why people are being that sacreligious and taking these people's Jewishness away from them. Miriam was a Jewess and Josef was a Jew, that is just how it is. The book, which is a book I heard read to me, for the first time, in December, my third year in school. Our teacher read from it every day throughout that month and I have no idea how my class mates felt about the story, but I was totally engrossed and fell in love with the book, being a very religious person. In 1988 I was living in the US and went home, where I aquired books I did not want to live without and I bought my own copy of the book. Since then, I have read it every December and my children cherish the story, which has the donkey as the main figure.
The book starts with the misbehaving donkey, belonging to the richest man in Nazareth, behaving poorly as usual since she doesn't know better. The servant looking after her is lazy and mean and she is the laughing stock of the other donkeys. But meeting Maria by the town well one day, changes her life entirely. Maria has a heart of gold and is one of those people who doesn't have an evil bone in her. Everyone loves her because she sees the good in everyone, including the donkey.
Maria is pregnant as we all know, and her poor husband Josef decides to buy a donkey for her to help with the chores. But he can not really afford one.The richest man in Nazareth is willing to sell him his dirtiest and naughtiest donkey, which is how our donkey ends up in the poor couple's possession.
But of course Maria's way with animals and humans, changes the donkey's nature and she goes from being lazy to being the best donkey ever. She works hard and when she finds out from the other animals that Maria is to have a son, she goes the extra mile, since she dreams of that son riding in his own little saddle on her back. And Josef will only let a good donkey carry the boy!
After a lot of hard work with the harvest, they are supposed to just wait for the baby, but instead Maria and Josef have to go to Bethlehem. And it is a long hardous journey. Guided by an angel, the donkey takes them the safest route, always finds them a place to sleep, and in all places they go, Maria's goodness spreads like rings on the water. People come to understand how special the baby is that she is expecting.
When they finally arrive to Bethlehem, the donkey is guided to a stable by the angel and there, in the presence of angels, is the son of God born, witnessed by Josef and the owner of the stable. The donkey is so proud of having delivered Maria to safety, so that she did not have to give birth by the road side, and all of Nazareth's birds, who came along on the trip, gets to sing to the baby before they leave to notify the animals at home, anxiously awaiting for news.
I have on purpose left out the good bits, but this story is a very hearwarming one, and many times when reading it aloud to my family, I get all choked up. The baby with eyes like the angels, the animals waiting at home, never getting to see the newborn but having to wait for years, the shepherds so proud of their ancestry, waiting for the Saviour of mankind to be born in their town of David... I love this book, always have and always will. I just hope for a new print so that I can give my children their own copies one day, so they can continue the tradition we started in our family!