What Was I Thinking? Queen Esther's 1970's Pants Suit

My mother just sent me the Bible story book that our family read when we kids were very young. I think she gave it to me, rather than any of my 4 sisters, because of the famous family story about my misunderstanding of which drawing went with which story. Here's the illustration of the story of Jesus' birth. You see Baby Jesus sleeping in an elaborate purple-and-red manger.

For unknown reasons (the long eyelashes??), I thought this was supposed to be the beautiful Queen Esther. As a child of the '70s, the manger looked like a typical pants suit. But I never quite understood why everyone thought Queen Esther was so beautiful. Her head and arms certainly aren't proportional. Oddly, it didn't phase me that she has hay sticking out of her sides (unruly belly hair??).

I won't mention how old I was before finally realizing this is Baby Jesus...


Now here's the drawing that really illustrates the Queen Esther story, showing Esther between the king and Haman. Much better, eh? I'm sure a banquet with her would be much more appetizing to the king and his favorite advisor than a banquet with the "other" Esther.

(Little Ones Listen to God. Written by Martha Hook; illustrated by Tinka Boren. 1971. Zondervan Publishing House. Grand Rapids, MI.)