These are a few of my favorite things!
I certainly hope you are not fretting over holiday gifts for anyone when there are so many millions of books to choose from. If you want to save a little money for this type of gift, then get out to Gardner's Book Service between Dec. 1 through 22 and get a 35% discount on personal purchases. If you can attend their annual open house, it's this Sat. Dec. 1 from 9AM to 5PM--prizes & refreshments too! Gardner's is at 16461 N. 25th Ave. Phoenix, 602-863-6000. It's just east of the I-17 & south of Bell. Or go to GBSbooks.com for complete map--a tiny bit tricky to find.
While there look for one of the many versions & parodies of Clement C. Moore's famous poem A VISIT FROM ST. NICHOLAS with the first line Twas the Night Before Christmas. I collect different versions of this poem in children's literature & have approximately 75 different ones! (There are over 200). One of my favorites is by Richard Jesse Watson released in 2006 by HarperCollins--Santa's sleigh is a marvel of technology & a sub story of elves runs through the illustrations. Don't miss the interview with Santa at the end! I was so thrilled to purchase one of the elf paintings last year--the candy-cane carrying one on the first page--to add to my collection of picture book art from Christmas books.
HOLLY'S CHRISTMAS EVE by Wendy Watson is another favorite of mine--the tree ornaments come to life in the quiet house and help each other survive things like the vaccuum. Bold colorful illustrations in this oversized picture book are just beautiful & a very sweet story. Look for the cat sleeping under the tree--another painting in my collection.
I like holiday stories that remind us of the simplicity of the season in days gone by. Two of my favorites in that line are APPLE TREE CHRISTMAS by Trinka Hakes Noble and YEAR OF THE PERFECT CHRISTMAS TREE by Gloria Houston & illustrated by the incomparable Barbara Cooney. APPLE TREE was reissued maybe last year so you should be able to find it in the stores again this year--it tells the story of a family that lives on a farm with the animals in the barn attached to their home. The family's beloved apple tree is lost during a blizzard causing much saddness to the 2 young girls who played, climbed & sat drawing in the tree. But on Chrsitmas morning they see how their father has preserved parts of the tree for them.
Gloria Houston gave the rights of her book YEAR OF THE PERFECT CHRISTMAS TREE to a small town in NC near where she grew up to help stabilize their economy when much of the furniture making industry was taken overseas. A huge cottage industry has evolved from this charitable act in which handmade items depicting parts of the story are sold in their country store & from the web site. Just Google the title of the book & the website will come up. I have tried to purchase many items from them for gifts as some of the profits go to administer a program to help keep kids in school. Unfortunately, recently our own Jeff Flake persuaded the Congress to drop a mere $125,000 funding from another bill to help fund this effort. My letter to the editor went unpublished. BUT, the story is very important, keeping one's word, making do with what one has & being part of a community, historical fiction from WWII--don't miss it! OH, AND, DanceMotion Performing Company ballet school has adapted the story to a holdiay performance being presented on Sat. 12-8 at 7:30PM and Sun. 12-9 at 2PM at the Orpheum. Call the Orpheum for tickets (602-262-7272)--these are kids from performing the adapted story. $12.00 for adults & $10.00 for children.
Another fun story about the "less-is-more" hope for the holidays is CRISPIN THE PIG WHO HAD IT ALL by Ted DeWan. This British import works well for instilling that anti-greed message we want our kids to get.
Happy Holidays to one & all--more later!
Cathy
While there look for one of the many versions & parodies of Clement C. Moore's famous poem A VISIT FROM ST. NICHOLAS with the first line Twas the Night Before Christmas. I collect different versions of this poem in children's literature & have approximately 75 different ones! (There are over 200). One of my favorites is by Richard Jesse Watson released in 2006 by HarperCollins--Santa's sleigh is a marvel of technology & a sub story of elves runs through the illustrations. Don't miss the interview with Santa at the end! I was so thrilled to purchase one of the elf paintings last year--the candy-cane carrying one on the first page--to add to my collection of picture book art from Christmas books.
HOLLY'S CHRISTMAS EVE by Wendy Watson is another favorite of mine--the tree ornaments come to life in the quiet house and help each other survive things like the vaccuum. Bold colorful illustrations in this oversized picture book are just beautiful & a very sweet story. Look for the cat sleeping under the tree--another painting in my collection.
I like holiday stories that remind us of the simplicity of the season in days gone by. Two of my favorites in that line are APPLE TREE CHRISTMAS by Trinka Hakes Noble and YEAR OF THE PERFECT CHRISTMAS TREE by Gloria Houston & illustrated by the incomparable Barbara Cooney. APPLE TREE was reissued maybe last year so you should be able to find it in the stores again this year--it tells the story of a family that lives on a farm with the animals in the barn attached to their home. The family's beloved apple tree is lost during a blizzard causing much saddness to the 2 young girls who played, climbed & sat drawing in the tree. But on Chrsitmas morning they see how their father has preserved parts of the tree for them.
Gloria Houston gave the rights of her book YEAR OF THE PERFECT CHRISTMAS TREE to a small town in NC near where she grew up to help stabilize their economy when much of the furniture making industry was taken overseas. A huge cottage industry has evolved from this charitable act in which handmade items depicting parts of the story are sold in their country store & from the web site. Just Google the title of the book & the website will come up. I have tried to purchase many items from them for gifts as some of the profits go to administer a program to help keep kids in school. Unfortunately, recently our own Jeff Flake persuaded the Congress to drop a mere $125,000 funding from another bill to help fund this effort. My letter to the editor went unpublished. BUT, the story is very important, keeping one's word, making do with what one has & being part of a community, historical fiction from WWII--don't miss it! OH, AND, DanceMotion Performing Company ballet school has adapted the story to a holdiay performance being presented on Sat. 12-8 at 7:30PM and Sun. 12-9 at 2PM at the Orpheum. Call the Orpheum for tickets (602-262-7272)--these are kids from performing the adapted story. $12.00 for adults & $10.00 for children.
Another fun story about the "less-is-more" hope for the holidays is CRISPIN THE PIG WHO HAD IT ALL by Ted DeWan. This British import works well for instilling that anti-greed message we want our kids to get.
Happy Holidays to one & all--more later!
Cathy
