Monday, December 14, 2015

Favorite Christmas Books

Greetings!

My two favorite things about Christmas are the wonderful music and the stories. If you don’t have a large collection of Christmas books in your library, I would recommend that you begin collecting.

I want to share some of my favorite stories and books for Christmas with you this week.

Patricia Polacco is a prolific artist/author and she has many Christmas stories with lovely illustrations. Look for A Christmas Tapestry, Trees of the Dancing Goats, and An Orange for Frankie.

Joe Wheeler writes the Christmas in My Heart books. Your older students and parents will enjoy reading these. In fact, most of these stories are great to read aloud at storytime.

The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry. This short story has been reprinted many times and is also illustrated by many different illustrators. Any book would be fine, but if you want to know what my personal favorite is, it is the one that is illustrated by Lisbeth Zwerger.

James Herriot wrote wonderful stories and some of them were reprinted as picture books. The Christmas Day Kitten and Moses the Kitten are favorites.

I love, love, love Tasha Tudor’s art and her book Becky’s Christmas tells the story of a farm family long ago who prepared for Christmas by making their own gifts for each other. The love and preparation for the old fashioned holiday is sweet and comforting. It is out of print and pretty expensive, so keep an eye out for a copy that is reasonable. This is the kind of thing that I look for at used bookstores.

A Certain Small Shepherd by Rebecca Caudill is a favorite. This is the alternate book I read to the 3rd and 4th graders. This year I am reading The Story of Holly and Ivy by Rumer Godden and next year it will be A Certain Small Shepherd. It is the story of an Appalachian family and a young boy who is mute until something happens at Christmastime.

Of course, Charles Dickens wrote the very famous Christmas story – A Christmas Carol. It would be nice to have it in two formats, both the original language and possibly a simpler version for younger children.

Peter Spier is an artist who draws wonderfully ordinary people and actually doesn’t use words. His books are great for everyone, but especially the children who aren’t yet reading. Try Peter Spier’s Christmas by Peter Spier. Then you will need to get his other wordless books. Look for Rain, Noah’s Ark, (notice two rabbits going in and dozens coming out. The look on Noah’s face is priceless), Jonah, Circus, and others.

The Twenty-four Days Before Christmas by Madeleine L’Engle is a very sweet story of the Austin family who appear in other of her books. I first read this at my in-law’s house in a magazine one Christmas in the early 1980s, and actually went and bought the magazine so I would have the story. The magazine became lost or tossed, and I was delighted to find it as a short book.

Well, I hope you find something here that is new to you and that you like. I am certain that you have your personal favorites and I have actually left out a lot of mine. These are ones that I feel are perfectly appropriate for elementary schools.

Have a wonderful Christmas and reflect on the gift of our Lord and Savior, Jesus.

Audrey

Currently Reading
How Far to Bethlehem? By Norah Lofts
The Complete Works of P. G. Wodehouse (I’m 31 % through on my Kindle) (this is on hold right now)
Behind Rebel Lines by Seymour Reit (recommended to me by a parent who got it from our local ABC)