The Best Christmas Pageant Ever is a book written by Barbara Robinsonin 1971. It tells the story of Imogene, Claude, Ralph, Leroy, Ollie, and Gladys, six delinquent children surnamed Herdman who engage in misfit behavior for their age such as smoking, drinking jug wine, and shoplifting. They go to church for the first time after being told that the church offers snacks. Despite protests from other church members, they are given roles in the Sunday school's Christmas play, in which they tell the Christmas storyin a nonconventional fashion.
The book was adapted by Robinson into a play which was first performed on November 26, 1982 by the Seattle Children's Theatre.