Holiday Books

Hello,
I go one response from a librarian who sent in two favorites that I hadn’t mentioned. Thanks, Brenda, for your ideas. She mentioned The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree by Gloria Houston, illustrated by Barbara Cooney and Night Tree by Eve Bunting. I don’t know the Eve Bunting book, but I really like other books she wrote, so will have to find this one.

Now, for more Christmas favorites from me.

Tasha Tudor wrote about her family and how they celebrated Christmas long ago in Becky’s Christmas. This was back in the day when families made decorations and gifts for each other rather than purchase them like many of us do today. This is a darling book and may be out of print. If you find a copy, you would be smart to purchase it and hang on to it. While you are at it, Tasha Tudor also wrote The Doll’s Christmas which also is a great purchase.

One book that is in the top three favorites of mine is The Story of Holly and Ivy by Rumer Godden. Rumer wrote a number of books about girls and dolls but this one is still in print. I happen to like the one illustrated by Barbara Cooney, but the story is wonderful no matter who illustrates it. Holly is a doll and Ivy is a little orphan girl. They get together through a series of events that are fun and interesting. I read this one every other year to the third and fourth graders and next year will be time for this one again. Last year I planned ahead and decorated my display case outside the library to match closely the toy shop window in the Barbara Cooney illustrated book. The kids loved it.

Another book in my top three is by Madeline L’Engle called The Twenty-four Days Before Christmas. I happened to read this story in a magazine about twenty-some years ago. I loved it so much; I went right out and bought my own copy of the magazine. Each year I reread the story and one day I found that it had been published in a book, so of course I bought the book and was finally able to toss the ragged magazine. It is the story of the Austin family and one special Christmas.

One of my favorite illustrators is Tomie DePaola. He has many, many books out and some of them are Christmas ones such as The Legend of the Poinsettia, but I really love the book he illustrated for the song The Friendly Beasts. Our music teacher sometimes uses that song for Christmas programs and we sing it in library class along with the book.

Other artists have illustrated Christmas songs and Ezra Jack Keats did a wonderful job with The Little Drummer Boy. It is a classic that is loved by many.

A newer book that is becoming a favorite of mine is Merry Christmas, Merry Crow. A crow gathers items as crows will and takes them away. At the end of the book, a tree is decorated with all the items that the crow has taken. Children love being surprised when they see the tree.

Amy Krouse Rosenthal is the author of a book called Christmas Cookies: Bite-Sized Holiday Lessons. This is one of the three ‘Cookies’ books she has written. The other two are Sugar Cookies: Sweet Little Lessons on Love and Cookies: Bite-sized Life Lessons.

Older students may enjoy learning how the different holiday traditions got started. They can find this out in Holly, Reindeer and Colored Lights by Edna Barth.
A picture book that older students will enjoy is Christmas in the Trenches by John McCutcheon. This tells the story of the Christmas truce between the Germans and the allied forces during World War 1. John McCutcheon also wrote a song about this and a CD is included in the book. You can also play the CD and hear the author read the story. Another book about this time in history is called Truce by Jim Murphy. This is not a picture book for young children, but there are many pictures and letters included in the historical account.

I hope that two weeks of Christmas books is enough to get you through the holidays. There are hundreds and hundreds more, but we must stop sometime.
Have a good week and keep well!
Audrey