Susie’s Book Nook - Children’s Book Reviewed: “The Third Gift” by Linda Sue Park illustrated by Bagram IBatolilline

I was looking for a new book about Christmas for this December when I came across “The Third Gift” by Linda Sue Park. What a very special book it turned out to be. It’s the perfect book to lead into Epiphany on January 6th when in our church we celebrate the three kings visiting the baby Jesus.

Like the author I never really gave a lot of thought about the gift of myrrh, what it was exactly and what it was used for in Jesus’ time. I never asked about it and in all the stories I read or were read to me it merely fell into “one of the gifts, gold, frankincense and myrrh. With this book, The Third Gift, you and your children can learn all about how a family in Jesus’ time harvested this precious and valuable product for their livelihood. And how everyday people are a part of history in ways they may never fully know.

Our story teller is a young boy who is learning from his father how to collect “tears,” pearls of sap that seep out of a tree when the bark is cut in a particular fashion. These tears, as they are called, are actually myrrh. We walk with the father and son searching for the best trees and not beautiful trees from which myrrh is harvested. These trees have branches that are stunted, knotty and spiny with leaves that are a dull grayish green. How often is something that seems to lack beauty have a hidden beauty within?

Once the trees are located the father must teach his son how to determine if the tree is ready to produce these valuable “tears of myrrh.” Here we can witness a wonderful example of a father patiently teaching his son the secrets of finding the right trees at the right time by touch and smell and experience. Not only does this father know when it is the right time to make the cut into the bark of the tree to allow the tear to develop, he knows when it is right to let his son be part of this harvesting. Because tears take time and skill to harvest, they fetch good sums of money from the spice merchant and people must pay even more to buy them.

I love the way the author lets this story unfold, watching the special relationship between the father and son as they go about an important part of their daily life and then the sharing of the sale of their tears to the spice merchant. It is in the market place that our young boy witnesses the purchase of “his tear” by some very important men. These men are buying gifts and already have gold and frankincense.  I like the way the author introduces us to the many uses of myrrh in Jesus’ time which will cause us as it did the young boy to ponder about myrrh as a gift for a baby.

I also loved how the illustrator, Bagram IBatolilline used very subtle earth tones, even to the flamboyant merchant and the three men seeking gifts. The illustrations only added to the thought-provoking theme of this “third gift.”  The author includes special notes at the end of the book for the reader to learn more of the history of “the three wise men” and where myrrh could be found in Jesus’ day.

I am delighted to have found this book and can’t wait to share it with my grandchildren during this Christmas season and into our Epiphany.