Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

We had a white Christmas!  I know that doesn't mean much to a lot of you, but for me, it was my first white Christmas, and for my little town, it's been the first white Christmas in 47 years!  So you can imagine, it was pretty special.  That and we've all had precious moments with extended family!

So the perfect book for such an occasion is Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening (c. 1978).  Once again, Susan Jeffers gives us a breathtakingly beautiful book.  You must check out her interpretation of  Robert Frost's poem.

Jeffers lends an enchanting quality to Frost's quietly enthralling poem.  Frost's poem conveys the magical silence and deceleration to life's pace that a newly falling snow brings about.  Jeffers faithfully compliments the peaceful solitude captured by Frost's poem.  The text and illustrations in this book transports the reader into the allure of a snowstorm, bestowing a serene and spellbinding experience.

Readers, comment on which page or spread is your favorite.  It's a tough choice, isn't it!

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day

 "Christmas Bells" or

"I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day"

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
(The original poem, complete with all seven stanzas)

I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!


And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along
The unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!


Till, ringing, singing on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime
A chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!


Then from each black accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound
The carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!


It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent,
And made forlorn
The households born
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!


And in despair I bowed my head;
"There is no peace on earth," I said;
"For hate is strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!"


Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead; nor doth he sleep!
The Wrong shall fail,
The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men!"

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow experienced great devastation in 1861, but out of that overwhelming grief, he began to pen the words that would lead him to write this unforgettable poem, which he completed in 1864. To read the heart-wrenching story behind the poem -- now Christmas carol -- check out: http://hubpages.com/hub/The-story-behind-I-Heard-the-Bells-on-Christmas-Day 

or check out this beautiful book by Lloyd Newell and Karmel Newell that contains Longfellow's poem and story.  Merry Christmas!

An Orange for Frankie

I raided Mom's Christmas collection and found yet another moving story from the master storyteller Patricia Polacco.  An Orange for Frankie left me spellbound.  I actually couldn't stop thinking about it throughout the rest of the day.

 
I don't know how many of you have seen the Waltons' Christmas movie entitled The Homecoming: A Christmas Story; it's one of those movies that's a staple around my house this time of year (again, another tradition passed down from my parents).  But for those of you who have seen the movie: you know that fuzzy feeling you get at the end when John Walton finally makes it home late Christmas Eve and everyone says good night to each other, ending with "Goodnight, John-Boy."  Well, this book conjurs up that same heart-warmness!  In fact, the story line is quite similar -- only in An Orange for Frankie all nine Stowell children eagerly await their father's return for Christmas.  However, he's delayed by a blinding snowstorm.  And the whole while we're following this story, we're also following a gripping sub-story of selfless giving.  Polacco weaves together two beautiful story lines of joy and tradition based on her own grandmother's childhood experience and enhanced by her brilliant watercolor and pencil illustrations.

 
So gather your family, and enjoy a touching story together.  You may even discover a new tradition for yourselves within its pages.

Mrs. Santa Claus . . .

 Mom, this one is dedicated to you!

A woman named Mrs. S. Claus

Deserves to be heard from because

    She sits in her den

    Baking gingerbread men

While her husband gets all the applause.

~ J. Patrick Lewis

For my readers: Mom always joked that Santa Claus should be a woman since that's who does all the cleaning, decorating, shopping, sewing, making, searching, baking, fetching, wrapping, mailing, cooking, hosting . . .

So, moms, now that it's only a few days until Christmas, how do you feel about it?!

How the Grinch Stole Christmas!

I know, you've seen the original animated movie and you've seen the Jim Carrey movie, so why take the time to read the book?

  
How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (c. 1957) is such that no televised production can fully encapsulate the beauty of language or the quality of rhyme as Dr. Seuss does.  Let's just say a little dose of this book can help cure the gimmies.  Dr. Seuss says it best and says it complete: 

Every Who down in Who-ville, the tall and the small,
Was singing!  Without any presents at all!
He HADN'T stopped Christmas from coming!
IT CAME!
Somehow or other, it came just the same!

And the Grinch, with his grinch-feet ice-cold in the snow,
Stood puzzling and puzzling: "How could it be so?
"It came without ribbons!  It came without tags!
"It came without packages, boxes or bags!"
And he puzzled three hours, till his puzzler was sore.
Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before!
"Maybe Christmas," he thought, "doesn't come from a store.
"Maybe Christmas . . . perhaps . . . means a little bit more!"

This Is the Stable

  
This Is the Stable by Cynthia Cotten tells the miracle of Jesus' birth in the rhythm of This is the House that Jack Built, making it catchy for children to remember the details.  Artist Delana Bettoli "used sepia ink outline, watercolor underpainting, gouache, and acrylic paint to create" her illustrations.

This is such a departure from the nativities we've seen in the past.  Finally, Bettoli presents us with a Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus, and shepherds that look like they're from Israel.  And how about these wise men who could actually be from the Eastern Hemisphere.

 As you can see, Bettoli's brilliant artwork makes this book stand out from other nativity editions.  I have to catch my breath each time I come to this page.  Isn't the rich color she gives to the angels just spectacular?  Bettoli's interpretation of the brilliancy of light and color of the angels encompassing the sky lends us understanding as to why the shepherds were fearful.


But what I love about this book most of all are dove-like wings enveloping the sky and stable, which for me signifies God's presence.  In fact, look for the dove throughout the story -- a Biblical symbol of God's Spirit.

The Gingerbread Boy

We're busy baking around here . . . making memories.  One tradition that I carried over from my childhood is making large gingerbread boys to gift and to eat.  Oh, they're delicious!  I know, I know . . . everyone thinks their own baking is the best.  But you'll appreciate this: last month, my sister-in-law said my brother still has a gingerbread cookie in the freezer from last Christmas that he's saving for the first of December; she ended by saying, "And he won't let me have it!"  So, I'm asking you, how many of you save your Christmas baked goods until the following November?  It's that good!

And it should be -- because boy is it labor intensive!  I feel like I've been rolling, cutting-out, baking and cleaning, decorating and cleaning with the kids all day.  Wait . . . that is what I've been doing all day!  Meanwhile, what I'm baffled by is that when I was growing up, my Mom did this for all three of our classes.  How did she do that?  But boy have the kids enjoyed it!  And when we were all done, I thought I'd never recover from the pleading of them wanting to do more.  What a fun and memorable experience!

The traditional reading a tale of The Gingerbread Boy accompanies the baking of gingerbread boys around our house.   You know the tale: a charming elderly couple bakes a gingerbread boy who in turn runs away as soon as the oven door opens.  Then everyone and their brother salivatingly chases that little rascal gingerbread boy as he mockingly and boastfully sings:
Run, run -- as fast as you can!
You can't catch me!  I'm the gingerbread man!
I ran away from the little old lady and the little old man.
And I can run away from you too, I can, I can!

I grew up with the Little Golden Book edition pictured above (c. 1965, reprinted 1978) entitled The Gingerbread Man, which has quite an unsentimental ending: And that was the end of the gingerbread man.  But then, nobody felt bad about that.  After all, everybody knew that gingerbread men are baked to be eaten.

However, I have to say that as endeared to the Golden Book edition as I am, I also love Paul Galdone's edition (c.  1975) entitled The Gingerbread Boy.  I find it interesting that in Galdone's story the charming elderly couple is childless, hence their rationale to fashion a gingerbread boy, which, of course, makes the ending a bit more pitiful.  If you haven't checked out a Galdone book yet, now is the time!

Either way, I'm telling you, those gingerbread boys are as sought after as square footage in Manhattan!

The Nutcracker

I'm giving my mom all the credit for finding my favorite edition of The Nutcracker story, illustrated by Susan Jeffers (c. 2007).  Accordingly, she sat in Barnes & Noble for hours flipping through and reading various editions of The Nutcracker until she settled on this one.  Jeffers edits the original text (which is quite lengthy) to make it child friendly, and she intentionally illustrates it to reflect Tchaikovsky's ballet, making this a beautiful, age-appropriate gift for children.

Nana gave this copy to my daughter last Christmas to commemorate a momentous occasion: enjoying her first performance of the Nutcracker ballet with her momma.

What I like best about this book is how well Jeffers incorporates the ballet into the story, as you can see here.  Said daughter was quite delighted to find that the book mirrored what she had seen on stage.  Thank you Mom for such a delightful book; it's a real treasure!

Dream Snow

Oh, sigh, Eric Carle!  Who doesn't adore Eric Carle?  What home have his books not found a way to nestle themselves into?  I don't even need to explain how wonderful Eric Carle is.  We all know him to be a brilliant storyteller and a brilliant illustrator by his trademark tissue-paper collage illustrations.  Here's a current author / illustrator who has already become a classic.  One day our children's children will wax nostalgically about their memories of The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

I have quite an admiration for Eric Carle, so just imagine how that escalated when I saw him on a Mr. Roger's Neighborhood re-run back in September -- to see two extraordinary talented individuals Fred Rogers and Eric Carle on the TV screen at the same time and then to share that experience with my children -- pretty amazing!  I searched You Tube to share that episode with you, especially Carle's fascinating description of his artistic process, but alas it's not to be.  However, I did find his explanation of that creative process here.

I'm recommending Dream Snow today.  It's one of the kids' favorites!  Carle holds them captivated by the simple, yet magical, tale of a farmer routinely caring for his five animals  One wintry evening, he slips into slumber where "soon he dreamed of falling snowflakes."  Carle transports the allure of falling snow into a dreamlike holiday tale.  If you end up purchasing copy of Dream Snow, please be advised that it will become love-worn!

If you'd like to discover more about Eric Carle, check out his website here.  It's a great resource.

The Christmas Story

Let me start off by saying that Eloise Wilkin is one of my all-time favorite illustrators for young children.  I grew up reading and re-reading her books.  I remember studying her illustrations for hours upon hours.  I find my children doing the same. You absolutely cannot go wrong when you pick up one of her books.  If you see a Wilkin book, get it!  And if you don't want it, by all means, send - it - to - me!!  (I could easily become a hoarder in this arena.)  I mean just look at those precious faces she captures.  I could blog for months and months about specific Wilkin titles, every one of them so dear. 

However, this evening, I'm going to feature Jane Werner's narrative of The Christmas Story (c. 1952) that Wilkin illustrates.  Oh, the joy of flipping through this book.  The Nativity steps off its display and into a picture book well suited for young children.  Werner stays true to the original Biblical text, using specific quotations from scripture, in her retelling of the Jesus' immaculate birth.  Eloise Wilkin's characteristic illustrations help modern day children envision that ancient miracle.

Unfortunately, our local library doesn't have this particular edition.  However, I've yet to come across a bookstore who doesn't carry it.  I've also seen it in some random places like Hobby Lobby and the Dollar Store.