Books for Family Sharing at Christmastime
I'm sure everyone knows about the Grinch and The Twelve Days of Christmas and 'Twas the Night before Christmas. Some families may enjoy sitting down to A Child's Christmas in Wales or A Christmas Carol. I'd like to highlight some less familiar books (and one video/dvd) that families might enjoy together this Christmas season.
Tomie dePaola has retold a Norwegian folktale in The Cat on the Dovrefell: a Christmas Tale. A man with a great white bear takes refuge at a house that is plagued by trolls every Christmas Eve. One troll sees the bear under the stove and pokes it in the nose. The very annoyed bear chases away the troublesome trolls. DePaola's soft, whimsical and generously-sized illustrations create a gentle atmosphere to match his simple retelling. Even the trolls are more silly than scary. This is a light and humourous story for little ones.
In a comic strip format, Raymond Briggs depicts a very grumpy individual in Father Christmas. From waking up and getting dressed to feeding the reindeer and getting on his way, Father Christmas complains about everything including the cold and the weather (snow, rain, fog). He complains about chimneys and he complains if there are not chimneys. On and on it goes until at last he is home again. Well, almost. His own Christmas gifts leave much to be desired. Briggs is a fine draughtsman and a droll humourist. His panels will delight readers young and old.
A shift in mood is Briggs' The Snowman. The dreamlike quality of his wordless story, also illustrated in strips, captures perfectly the fantastical adventure of a young boy and the snowman he has made. The animated video of The Snowman is beautiful in every way and one that can be viewed again and again (and I speak from experience). Also wordless, the film is slightly different from the book. The music, composed by Howard Blake, is spectacular and includes the song "Walking in the Air". Cuddle up on a frosty night and be transported.
Baseball Bats for Christmas is a reminiscence by author Michael Kusugak. Far above the treeline in Repulse Bay, a pilot brings in supplies including six "standing-ups" as the residents call these Christmas trees. There is some debate as to what to do with them. Finally a boy decides that they are meant to be used for baseball bats. And so the children have bats to last them all baseball season. The story is full of detail about life in the far north and is told with Kusugak's characteristically rye humour. Illustrator Vladyana Krykorka's northern children are round-faced and rosy-cheeked. Her pastel skies provide warmth to the scene. Altogether it is light-hearted and entertaining.
In Kevin Major's The House of the Wooden Santas, Jesse and his single mother have moved from the city to a small town in Newfoundland. He is miserable. What's worse, he and his mother are broke. Christmas is coming — a little magic might help — or maybe the kindness of new friends and neighbours. Broken down into short chapters — with exquisitely carved Santas decorating each one — beginning with "Twenty-Four Days to Christmas", this book is begging to be read aloud each night until Christmas.
The Dark Is Rising is Susan Cooper's masterful tale about the struggle between light and darkness. Will Stanton, who has turned eleven on the eleventh day of the eleventh month, is the unlikely hero. Atmospheric and beautifully written, the book will captivate all members of the family — a perfect read-aloud for a winter's day.
Happy Holidays
Happy Reading
2 thoughts on “Books for Family Sharing at Christmastime”
Great recommendations, Theo. Thanks! I love the Briggs books. I’ll check out House of the Wooden Santas. And I’ll have to re-read The Dark is Rising — I’d forgotten about that series, and I enjoyed them so much the first time through.
Thanks for your comments, John. A friend of mine told me that her family read The Dark Is Rising aloud to one another over Thanksgiving and they loved it.