Robin Currie’s darling new book, Just Enough Room for Christmas, hit the shelves in time for us to make room for it in our personal libraries. With just one reading, the book wiggled its way into my heart and found a permanent place for the holidays.

With precious illustrations, farm animals as main characters until THE main character shows up, and a message to carry in our heart long past Christmas, this book is a winner. I had the blessed opportunity to interview the author, who happens to be a personal friend, to find out more about her work.

Please enjoy the backstory of how her charming book came to be then look for it in a bookstore near you. But be prepared – you’ll get request after request to “read it again, please,” from the little loves in your life.

Julie: Hi, Robin. Can you tell us how your sweet book took shape?

Robin: I belong to a group that spends January coming up with 31 rough ideas for books – not fleshed out, just a line or two of an idea. In 2023, idea #5 was “stable is just a shed for travelers’ horses and donkeys, the inn keepers’ cow and a few mice – Nothing Happens in a Stable.”

Talking to my agent later that spring, he suggested I write 10 pieces about Christmas and see if he could sell some. That produced some winners like “Did the Holy Family Drive a Truck?” and “Why the Kings were Late to Bethlehem.” And one called “Old Hannah.”

The pattern was an old one in the world of storytelling (I was a children’s librarian before seminary) “always room for one more,” where a small place gets more and more crowded until everyone leaves and it feels spacious again. Jan Brett has a book called The Mitten in this pattern. That way, I incorporated my fluent second language: cow (with a passable knowledge of goat, cat, and dog). The twist on the original story is that the last to arrive is a tired couple expecting a baby. The animals quiet down to make room for the newborn king.

I had that outlined early on with the animals asking Old Hanna to let them in, and the cow replying.

Julie: Well, it sounds like you’re about to tell us you had to go to Plan B. Tell us what happened next.  

Robin: BLAAT! Buzzer sound – foul!

The agent told me that in the religious market today, animals don’t talk. (And despite the fact that I could name lots of books where animals DID talk – plus the whole “Gift of the talking animals on Christmas Eve” thing – he said it had a better chance of selling if the cattle did not chatter.

And the title should be changed to something about Christmas. OK – “Christmas in the Barn.”

Julie: Oh dear. Good thing writers know how to drop back and punt when we figure out something isn’t working. What was your next step in writing the book?

Robin: Time for the critique groups – live and online– some little stuff, but basically lots of good feedback. And another title change, “Just Enough Room for Christmas.”

Obviously, it was ready and the offers should come rushing in. Crickets. (Churrip-churrip!)

Julie: When we finish a book we’ve poured our hearts into, it’s often hard for it not to be welcomed by everyone with open arms! I’ve certainly learned that it takes perseverance over the years of writing. And, because I’m holding your book in my hand, I take it you didn’t give up at this point.

Robin: Not at all. I sent the manuscript to a couple of contests, mostly for some outside feedback. It got an honorable mention in the Cascade Writers 2024 and won Silver for Royal Palm Literary Awards 2024 from Florida Writers Association. You have to believe in a Ribbon Winning Cow!

Julie: A ribbon winning cow is a winner for sure!

Robin: Randomly, I sent the manuscript to Good Books/Sky Horse (noting it was already an award winner and the animals did NOT talk!) and got an immediate response.  Not only YES – but YES in 2025!

Julie: You must’ve been so excited with that news, Robin.

Robin: You know the cow that jumped over the moon? I was on its back! Mooooo!

Friends, don’t you just love learning “the rest of the story” about the story? I so enjoyed finding out more about my friend’s newest release. You’ll have plenty of room in your heart and in your lap for reading this one to your kiddos over and over again during the Christmas season.

And, here’s just a bit more about my dear friend, Robin.

Robin Currie spent her library career in the children’s department, where she could baa, moo, and honk without getting shushed. Her writing engages children not only in noisemaking but jumping, waving, and face making. So do her sermons.

Despite her incessant need to wiggle, Robin earned a Master’s Degree in Library Science and worked in public libraries before answering the call to seminary. She holds a Master’s of Divinity and Doctorate of Preaching, and remains active in area churches.

She and her husband have 4 mature children and a crop of grown-up grandchildren who keep them from becoming Old Foggie’s. Because there is no fun noise for that.

Robin has traditionally published more than 45 picture books. She writes stories to read and read again!

Post by Julie Lavender

Julie Lavender is the author of the upcoming book, Children’s Advent Stories for Bedtime, published by Penguin Random House.

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