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Christmas is indeed an inside, outside season. Just as children need the inside nesting and cozy holiday activities within the home, they also yearn for connection with the outside world--the rosy-cheeked pleasure of being in nature, the satisfaction of giving to a stranger in need, the anticipation of window shopping. Author and illustrator Robin Spowart highlights this duality by tracking t... More

Christmas is indeed an inside, outside season. Just as children need the inside nesting and cozy holiday activities within the home, they also yearn for connection with the outside world--the rosy-cheeked pleasure of being in nature, the satisfaction of giving to a stranger in need, the anticipation of window shopping. Author and illustrator Robin Spowart highlights this duality by tracking the holiday activities of a busy little mouse family. Each spread contains an inside and an outside rhyming activity: "inside caring" (the mouse son bringing warm tea to his grandmother) and "outside caring" (the daughter mouse dropping a new doll into the barrel marked "Toys for needy mice"). Spowart's smudgy chalk drawings and big-eyed mice reflect the warm, fuzzy comforts of indoor joys as well as the frosty mysteries of a winter wonderland. The most touching spin comes at the end when Spowart overlaps the two worlds to remind children of the inward and outward love at the core of this bustling, homey season. (Click to see a sample spread. Illustrations (c)1998 by Robin Spowart. Permission from Holiday House, Inc.) (Baby to preschool) --Gail Hudson

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