series editor: Ruth Sawyer ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 15, 1966
From the very well-known author/storyteller—a spread of six unusual and varied Christmas stories from five nations, each introduced by an appropriate carol. The Arabian "The Two Lambs" is a gentle vision of the Nativity. "This is the Christmas," from Serbia is the most touching story, about a blind boy who was not permitted to enter the church because of his gypsy origins. The Irish fairytale "The Precious Herbs of Christmas" tells of a boy who overcomes his fear of the dark to save his mother's life. The least successful is the "What the Three Kings Brought," described as "A Personal Christmas Story" and told in the author's first person about an impoverished Spanish boy who was given his wishes on Christmas; it lacks the legendary quality and as a result seems overly sentimental. "San Froilan of the Wilderness" was the Spanish Saint who tamed the wolf who killed his donkey, and "The Miracle of Saint Cumgall" is the Irish legend of the friar who was rescued by the mouse he had befriended. The narrations are well done, each picking up the appropriate national tone. Storytellers and teachers on the lookout for a new Christmas story will find this easy to read aloud, and several of the selections would be easily adaptable for dramatization in holiday pageants. The delicate black and brown ink drawings by Trina Schart Hyman incorporate attractive peasant stylization, but are secondary to the text.
Pub Date: Sept. 15, 1966
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: May 8, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1966
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adapted by Ruth Sawyer & illustrated by Barbara Cooney
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by Dan Saks ; illustrated by Brooke Smart ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2020
A joyful celebration.
Families in a variety of configurations play, dance, and celebrate together.
The rhymed verse, based on a song from the Noodle Loaf children’s podcast, declares that “Families belong / Together like a puzzle / Different-sized people / One big snuggle.” The accompanying image shows an interracial couple of caregivers (one with brown skin and one pale) cuddling with a pajama-clad toddler with light brown skin and surrounded by two cats and a dog. Subsequent pages show a wide array of families with members of many different racial presentations engaging in bike and bus rides, indoor dance parties, and more. In some, readers see only one caregiver: a father or a grandparent, perhaps. One same-sex couple with two children in tow are expecting another child. Smart’s illustrations are playful and expressive, curating the most joyful moments of family life. The verse, punctuated by the word together, frequently set in oversized font, is gently inclusive at its best but may trip up readers with its irregular rhythms. The song that inspired the book can be found on the Noodle Loaf website.
A joyful celebration. (Board book. 1-3)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-22276-8
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Rise x Penguin Workshop
Review Posted Online: Nov. 26, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2020
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by Loren Long & illustrated by Loren Long ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 2009
Continuing to find inspiration in the work of Virginia Lee Burton, Munro Leaf and other illustrators of the past, Long (The Little Engine That Could, 2005) offers an aw-shucks friendship tale that features a small but hardworking tractor (“putt puff puttedy chuff”) with a Little Toot–style face and a big-eared young descendant of Ferdinand the bull who gets stuck in deep, gooey mud. After the big new yellow tractor, crowds of overalls-clad locals and a red fire engine all fail to pull her out, the little tractor (who had been left behind the barn to rust after the arrival of the new tractor) comes putt-puff-puttedy-chuff-ing down the hill to entice his terrified bovine buddy successfully back to dry ground. Short on internal logic but long on creamy scenes of calf and tractor either gamboling energetically with a gaggle of McCloskey-like geese through neutral-toned fields or resting peacefully in the shade of a gnarled tree (apple, not cork), the episode will certainly draw nostalgic adults. Considering the author’s track record and influences, it may find a welcome from younger audiences too. (Picture book. 5-8)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-399-25248-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Philomel
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2009
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