Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition but neither does anyone expect the Herdmans to want to get involved with the Second Presbyterian Christmas pageant. The Herdmans are a group of children that are known for running wild doing things like smoking cigars, blackmailing other kids, bringing their one-eyed cat to school, etc. Not exactly the students who you'd expect to volunteer to be the living nativity. Would it have happened if the regular director hadn't broken her leg? Maybe. But her insinuation that it wouldn't've is what sets the narrator's mother (the fill-in) to declare that this is going to be the best Christmas pageant ever.
With an adult's eye, you understand why the Herdmans run so wild and it might break your heart just a little but at least one of them seems to have a heart by the end of the story.
Four stars
This book came out in 1972
Book from library
Opinions are my own
