16+ Details You May Have Missed in Seek and Find: The First Christmas

When illustrating the Seek and Find series, as well as the 450 plus things to find, count and sort, it's always fun to add a few little biblical details to each page. Here are a few to look out for in our newest volume, Seek and Find: The First Christmas:

News for Mary

In the Bible, every time an angel appears to someone, their first words are always “Do not be afraid!” Mary is so shocked by the appearance of Gabriel that she has dropped her water jar!

Busy Bethlehem

In the hustle and bustle of everyone arriving in Bethlehem for the census, you may spot some familiar faces…

1. This old farmer will soon offer Mary and Joseph a place to stay. The manger he usually uses to hold hay for his ox, will instead hold the Saviour of the world.
2. This lame man can be seen in Seek and Find: New Testament Bible Stories, listening on as a young Jesus astounds teachers in the courts of the Jerusalem Temple. Maybe he kept an eye on this remarkable child once he heard from the shepherds their news of great joy.
3. This shepherd is heading out to the fields to watch over his flock as night falls. Little does he know what God has in store for him this night!

Angels

As angels feature prominently in the Christmas story, we wanted to give serious thought to how we would illustrate them. Traditionally, angels have been depicted as gentle, quiet, robed, and with white, feathered wings. The Bible never describes their appearance in much detail, but we do know a few things:

• They are sometimes described as bright or shining (Matthew 28:3)
• They cause fear/awe/shock when they appear (Luke 1:11-12)
• They are sometimes described as having wings (Isaiah 6:2, Daniel 9:21), sometimes not (Genesis 18:1-2)
• They serve God and live in his presence (Luke 1:19)
• They are sometimes armed and fight for God (Genesis 3:24, 2 Kings 19:35)

With the Seek and Find series, we always want to challenge traditional stereotypes when they conflict with the Bible, so we decided to illustrate our angels as armoured warriors! 

Here are some features we built in to their design:

• We included a mix of males and females, with a variety of hair styles and skin tones, to make it clear these beings lived outside of our world of time and place.
• They are armoured in bright gold—gleaming and flashing like lightning.
• Their wings are also gold, deliberately unclear as to whether they are part of the angels themselves or their armour.
• The breastplate of each angel bears the tree of life, as they await the time God will restore his creation and bring us back to the “garden”.
• The spear-butts and sword-pommels bear a rising-sun design, as they look forward to the first Easter when the Son will rise.
• Their shields, axes, spearheads and bows are all constructed from the curves of the Trinity symbol, as they serve Father, Son and Spirit.
• They are fierce yet joyful—bringing good news from heaven for all people!

Herod's Palace

In stark contrast to the curves and smooth lines of the angels, Herod's palace is made of hard lines and sharp angles to show the ugliness of his pride. He has surrounded himself with monogrammed banners as he is desperate to make a name for himself as the king of Israel.

The Magi

We don't know much about these wise men from the East, other than that they were wise and from the East! We based their home on the shapes and colours of ancient Babylon, but added a few hints that these scholars still followed the One True God—notice the Star of David pendant around one Magi's neck, and also featuring on their camel's saddle.

A Gift of Myrrh

The bottle of Myrrh that the wise men present to Jesus is the same bottle we see in Seek and Find New Testament Bible Stories. It was intended to anoint Jesus' dead body, but it wasn't ever used—Jesus is alive for ever!

Flora and Fauna

We love having lots and lots of fun animals and plants for children to seek and find while listening to the Bible stories. But it's important to us that children understand these are true stories that happened in a real place. For that reason, ALL* the animals and plants featured in the Seek and Find series are species that can be found in Israel. Here is a  selection of some that are featured in Seek and Find: The First Christmas:

1. Rose finch
2. Golden jackal
3. Greater Egyptian jerboa
4. Israeli sand gecko
5. Long-eared hedgehog
6. Persian cyclamen flower
7. Cicada
8. Palestine sunbird
9. Scarab beetle
10. Marbled polecat
11. Firefly
12. Lemon tree
13. Griffon vulture

*The only exception is the caged parrots seen in Herod's Palace. These African grey parrots and lovebirds are native to Africa—but we imagined a man like Herod would enjoy surrounding himself in wealth and exotic items, so would have bought such birds from traders.

André Parker is the co-creator and illustrator of the Seek and Find series, a collection of beautiful large-format board books each filled with over 450 hidden things for 2-6’s to find and count. There are also accompanying activity books, containing a variety of puzzles, mazes and colouring pages to entertain young children. In Seek and Find: The First Christmas, young children will learn key truths about the first Christmas, through the biblically-faithful illustrations and retellings of the Gospel accounts of Jesus' birth.