December 1st I package up my shelf of Christmas books for children and trundle them off to school. I love reading these stories at the end of the day to my students huddled around me on the rug. Here are my favorite five:#1. The First Christmas by Tomie dePaola. Actually my copy is entitled Il Primo Natale since Larry bought it for me on a trip to Italy. It's a colorful pop up book with dePaola's simple bright illustrations, unfolding the wonderful story of the nativity. On each page there are moving parts--the kids love with the colossal star unfolds before the three kings or the innkeeper's arm moves to point the way to the stable. Colorful and engaging.
#2. Merry Christmas, Alex by Hanne Turk. In this tiny book an endearing small gray mouse sets to making cinnamon star cookies. The clean watercolors against the white background make each picture a joy in itself. After all that baking the little mouse falls asleep and suddenly awakes to find the cookies burnt black in the oven. After a tearful moment, the door bell rings and the mouse discovers a beautifully wrapped box of cinnamon stars left on his door step. The tiny perfect illustrations capture his joy, alarm, despair and eventually contentment perfectly. There is no text in the story, but the flap of the book, which was first published in Austria, explains that in that country 99% of the population eat cinnamon stars at Christmas time. A lot of cozy happiness in this little book.
#3. Christmas in the Country by Cynthia Rylant. You pick up this book first for the beautiful, simple illustrations by Diane Goode. But then the text pulls you in. It is the dear story of a young girl living with her grandparents through Christmas time-- the quiet country preparations, decorating and baking -- the trips to the little baptist church to sing with the other children, the friends and neighbors dropping by. She writes, "Grandfather always brought home a tree that was a little too wide or a little too tall and we would have to spend the next few weeks squeezing around it in the living room. It seemed sometimes like an embarrassed guest. But we loved that tree and couldn't wait to turn on the lights at night. It was the prettiest thing we had." Lovely text, sweet story. I sent this book to my Chinese daughter-in -law Jodi so she could imagine our Christmas here.
#4. Merry UnChristmas by Mike Reiss. This tale takes place in a town named Christmas City where they celebrate 364 days of Christmas each year and one glorious day of "UnChristmas!" The protagonist, Noelle, is thrilled when the big day arrives-- She can go to school! the family gets to enjoy tv dinners! her parents take he downtown to watching the un-lighting of the city tree. "De-lightful" her father says every year. And when a fat jolly man arrives with a huge pack on his back, it's the post man with a years worth of mail! Charming story with bright quirky illustrations that make you smile in themselves. A favorite of my kids at school.
#5. B Is for Bethlehem by Isabel Wilner. This Christmas alphabet book is for children/adults of any age. The highly detailed illustrations by Elisa Kleven use collage, ink and paint for a riotous explosion on every page. The book tells the Christmas story A to Z. "W's for worship, O come and adore. In starlight, in candlelight, glad carols soar." A wonderful, worshipful walk through the glad tidings. Glorious.
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