Stars and Angels: Christmas readings to go with 'One Bright Star' or similar

I wrote these readings originally to go with the wonderful Upper KS2 / KS3 cantata ‘One Bright Star’ by Robert Legg and Stella Vassiliou (which only has a few, very short sections of text) to make it suitable for a carol service performance. They tell the Christmas story through the eyes of, amongst others, Gabriel, Mary, Joseph, the innkeeper, the Wise Men and King Herod. The songs indicated between the readings are from that cantata, which is available with CD backing from Starshine Music, but the readings can stand alone with traditional carols instead as suggested in the notes.

There are 15 separate readings, some of which can be split to provide parts for a larger group. In the notes I suggest some parts which are suitable for less confident readers.