Tag Archives: Holiday

One Wild Christmas

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Christmas is the best holiday ever for Bear, Beaver and Moose. They spend their first Christmas Eve together decorating, baking and preparing for the big day. Suddenly, they realize that they have forgotten to get a tree! They hasten into the woods to remedy the situation and find the perfect pine tree. Unfortunately, Bear just now realizes that the plan is to chop the tree down and he just can’t let that happen. So, he tosses his friends around a bit and ties them to the tree. He’s worried that his love of trees might ruin Christmas for his friends, but comes up with a fantastic compromise. He rushes home, grabs their holiday food, gifts and decorations and returns to his friends and the beautiful tree. Together, they set up a wonderful Christmas right there, decorating the live tree and enjoying it together.

Spare digital illustrations complement a simple story of misunderstanding and compromise among friends. Hopefully, readers won’t wonder why the bear didn’t realize earlier that the tree was supposed to be cut down. Instead, they will celebrate a caring and inventive group of friends that have a wonderful Christmas together…with a tree.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day

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Martin Luther King Jr. Day details what the holiday is, the origin, who celebrates and traditions. A timeline, map, historical and current photos make this book a nice introduction to the holiday. Short sentences with highlighted words that might be unfamiliar (defined in the glossary) make it an appropriately leveled book for younger readers. My only complaint is that most of the photos, even the current ones, are fairly homogeneous in ethnicity, which is unfortunate and unrealistic. A more accurate portrayal of people of all backgrounds coming together should have been pictured.

Passover

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Passover is an introduction to the Jewish holiday. The book explains what it is, its traditions and origins, who celebrates and when they do so. There is a nice pronunciation guide for unfamiliar words and a recipe typical to the holiday. There is also a glossary, which defines the bolded words that are throughout the text. This is part of the Celebrating Holidays series and is very appropriate for early readers. While the text is spare, the photos also do a great job of illustrating the different aspects of the holiday. Purchase this book to update your collection.

Super Simple Thanksgiving Crafts: fun and easy holiday projects for kids

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This book gives the reader some history about Thanksgiving and information about how it is currently celebrated. And then, the fun begins! A great two page spread that shows pictures of materials and tools needed for the crafts shows the reader that most of the items are easily accessible. Following that are two page spreads with pictures and clear steps to use in order to make each of the crafts presented. In addition, there are directions for making a treat, which kids will enjoy adding to the Thanksgiving table. Pick up this book and the rest of the series for your library. Highly recommended.

A world of cookies for Santa : follow Santa’s tasty trip around the world

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This is a delectable collection of Christmas traditions around the world, some of which include cookie recipes. Each short description is on a page with colored illustrations of children from that particular country. Young readers will enjoy learning the names and traditions surrounding Santa on his travels around the world. Endpapers have maps of Santa’s path around the world and the end of the book includes recipes for several of the cookie recipes.

This book will be a fun addition to holiday collections. And, BONUS! Students might bring you some cookies from the recipe collection in this book! Recommended

Rudy’s Windy Night

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A hilarious remake of the story about a reindeer named Rudy and how he helps Santa at Christmas.  Written as a rhyming poem with consistent cadence and some repeating phrases, it is a good book for beginning readers. The book has multiple, colorful ways of describing flatulence and my favorite is the use of “trump”.  Eating too many sprouts can have unexpected results. Read aloud, this book will have everyone laughing!