<i>”Silent Night, holy night…”</i>

I think you’d be hard pressed to find anyone, at least in the Americas and Europe, who wouldn’t be familiar with the song “Silent Night”. It’s one of the most popular songs for musicians to cover, for school concerts, and for church choirs to sing. There are probably hundreds of recordings out there. In “Silent Night”, Elena Selivanova does a wonderful job of bringing the nativity story to life with her beautiful [watercolour?] illustrations, each illustration accompanied by a line or two from the song’s chorus.

I liked the illustration style Elena uses quite a bit. The watercolours (?) give a dreamy effect that fits the story well - the only detractions, for me, were the odd illustration that seems a bit strangely proportioned (mostly faces seen at from the side, or an odd angle), and many of the animal designs seem to take inspiration from the precious moments figurines.
Cute, but strange, and not quite fitting the other, more realistic illustrations. Also, the illustrator followed the usual European depictions of the holy family, which is… fine, as there was more travel between countries and continents throughout history than most people would believe. However, when most of the other cast are depicted as white as well, with only a few “token” characters included, it feels somewhat “whitewashed”.
I did love the amount of detail given to the illustrations, though, like with the clothing of the three wise men. It would have been nice to have more text throughout the book, as well.

I liked the addition of a page of sheet music at the back. Unfortunately since it was hand-drawn, there were a few places that were harder to tell which line a note was on, and that’s with my tablet held reasonably close to my face. I can imagine how hard it would be to try to read from the piano or music stand.
I also really enjoyed having the background information on the poem/song and its history included, though I would have enjoyed more info. It would have been really neat to have the full German poem and it’s English translation, but unfortunately the text only include the common, pared-down version of the song. That definitely feels like a missed opportunity - a lot of the readers for this book would be parents with their children, and even if the kids might not enjoy the comparison, I’m sure some of the parents would find it interesting.

Overall it’s a very pretty book, and would be good for libraries who want to add some books specifically on Christmas songs to their collection. The background info was quite interesting. However, there’s not a lot of textual content here, and with <i>so many</i> Christmas books published every year, libraries have to be somewhat choosy as to what the are willing to dedicate shelf space to. Unless specifically looking for the topic, I don’t think it would be the <i>first</i> choice for an addition to a collection.

I read this book in an e-book (ARC) format. It was mostly decent - I could only read one page at a time, and this meant sone pages cut off oddly on an illustration that was meant to be a two page spread. There were a few instances of a characters head being cut off half-way of one page, then the full image being shown on the second, making it feel oddly doubled when you expect the second page to simply continue the first. But, I’m sure this will be cleaned up for the final purchase, and not be an issue for any physical copies.


Oh, and I received a digital loan of this title through Netgalley for the purpose of reviewing the title (in my honest opinion).

Silent Night by Elena Selivanova is a beautifully illustrated and written book based on the beloved carol. This illustrated version of the carol also gives the Bible reference of the Christmas Story. There is also a QR code for the reader to enjoy listening to the carol. I believe Silent Night by Elena Selivanov would be a wonderful Christmas tradition for your family. Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for the opportunity to read this book. My review is also on Goodreads.

Silent Night
by Elena Selivanova
Pub Date 15 Aug 2022
Loyola Press
Children's Nonfiction | Religion & Spirituality

I am reviewing a copy of Silent Night through Loyola Press and Netgalley:


In this gorgeously illustrated version of the beloved Christmas Carol, Silent Night. This book will be a great addition to the personal library of your Child or Grandchild. The hardcover edition of this book includes sheet music for the song and a brief history of its creation.



Silent Night would be the perfect addition to your family traditions, by reading it to your loved ones.


I give Silent Night five out of five stars!


Happy Reading!

This is a lovely way to experience the story of the nativity and the classic hymn "Silent Night." Selivanova's luminous, warm illustrations are a great pairing for the peaceful lyrics. Children will especially enjoy the many animals included in the art. The history behind the song "Silent Night" is included at the back of the book. This would make a great addition to anyone's Christmas book collection.

I absolutely loved this book , the illustrations were beautiful. I was singing along with the story and the history behind the song
was an added bonus . This novel will become a welcome Christmas tradition.

The artwork in this is so so beautiful! The paintings of the Holy Family left me breathless. I’d purchase this artwork! The text is the hymn Silent Night, so a great one to read with your young kids during the Advent and Christmas seasons.

Thank you to Netgalley and LoyolaPress for the free advanced copy to read and review.

This book is beautifully illustrated. The pictures are simple, yet powerful. I really enjoyed the fact that "the story behind the song" was in this book. When little (and no so little) ones hear/sing this song, they're curious about how this song came about and this book as a great little mini history lesson. This is a beautiful book to read to your little loved ones during Christmas time.

Silent Night by Elena Selivanova was a sweet book about the birth of Jesus. I think there are a lot of books exactly like this out there, however I do think this would be a nice addition to your library if you like Christian Folk Tales.

A gentle little picture book with the text of three full stanzas of the beloved Christmas hymn "Silent Night" and accompanying illustrations. The "Story Behind the Song" section at the back provides the history of the composition of "Silent Night" by Joseph Mohr (words) and Franz Gruber (music) in Austria in 1818, and how the song then spread to the English-speaking world. This is a nice Christmas gift for young children!

One of the most beloved songs in the history of music is made more magical and more alive in a manner your little ones will find as beautiful as you do the candle light in the darkness amid the holiday season. I teared up before the book even started, as I read the dedication that said “To all God’s children, may you find the peace and joy of Christmas every day of the year.” Each page portrays a beautiful illustration, ranging from shepherds, to starry skies, to angels, to baby Jesus, and more, along with a single line of the song. This one is a perfect tradition and beautifully and classically done.

I loved this book and it is was a lovely Christmas read

The book was well laid out and the illustrations were just perfect

It is 5 stars from me for this one – very highly recommended!