Barbara Robinson's The Best Christmas Pageant Ever was published in book form in 1971 by Harper & Row. Prior to its publication as a novel, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever was first published in McCall's. It follows a group of six misfit and delinquent children from the Herdman family who offer to star in their town's Christmas pageant.
They aim to make the pageant, as the novel's title suggests, "the best ever." The six children work hard to prepare for the pageant, but the town thinks they will fail miserably and that their pageant performance will be a spectacular failure. Instead, the Herdman children stun the town with their unique and innovative performance. And along the way, the Herdmans teach the town what Christmas is truly about—and what it is not about.
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever has been a massive success since its release. The novel is considered a Christmas classic and has sold over 800,000 copies in its first year as a book, an astronomical number considering fewer than 500 bestsellers sell more than 100,000 books per year. And the reviews for Robinson's novel reflected the number of books it sold. Common Sense Media, for instance, called the novel: "A unique and entertaining spin on an age-old tale."
