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Jacket description:"Mark your calendar. It's the Christmas Cookie Club! Every year on the first Monday of the month of December, Marnie and her twelve closest girlfriends gather in the evening with batches of beautifully wrapped homemade cookies. Everyone has to bring a dish, a bottle of wine, and their stories. This year, the stories are especially important. Marnie's oldest daughter has a risky pregnancy. Will she find our tonight how that story might end? Jeannie's father is having an affair with her best friend. Who else knew about the betrayal, and how can that be forgiven or forgotten, even among old friends such as these? Rosie's husband doesn't want children, and she has to decide, very soon, whether or not that's a deal breaker for the marriage. Taylor's life is in financial freefall. Each woman, each friend has a story to tell, and they are all interwoven, just as their lives are. 

On this evening, at least, they can feel as a group the impulses of sisterly love and conflict, the passion and hopefulness of a new romance, the betrayal and disillusionment some relationships bring, the joys and fears of motherhood, the agony of losing a child, and above all, the love they have for one another."

If you're in the mood for a light, quick holiday read, this is a great choice. Not a whole lot of depth and the characters just barely get into telling their personal stories before it's time to move onto the next woman's and a lot of the individual stories are somewhat cliche. But really...I didn't expect a fabulously written, deep, thought-provoking novel, I just wanted something light, fun and Christmasy, and that's exactly what I was given. I've been snowed in all weekend and enjoyed this for an afternoon.

I did love getting a cookie recipe at the beginning of each chapter, a few of which I plan to try out this week, and I really liked the inclusion of special chapters dedicated to the background of specific baking ingredients. We're given mini-chapters on flour, chocolate, almonds, among a bunch of others, including where they originated and who used them in the past. Author Ann Pearlman definitely did her research!

I'm totally sold on the idea of hosting a Christmas cookie club someday, if only for the cookies! I'm sure my friends would be up to it to, I would love to actually get a club together and have wine and cookies all night.

The Christmas Cookie Club: A Novel
Ann Pearlman
288 pages
Adult fiction
Atria
9781439158845
October 2009
Copy borrowed from my local library


To learn more or to purchase, click on the book cover above to link to Amazon. I am an Associate and will receive a tiny commission from your purchase. Thanks!

Each day leading up to Christmas, I'm going to feature a Children's book that I've really enjoyed and would make a great choice to share with your family for the holidays. It may be one I've loved for years or one I've just recently found, but all would be great additions to your Christmas story list. Hopefully you'll find something to enjoy!

Jacket description:
"Far, far north, when the nights are the longest and the stars shine brightest, the spirit of Christmas fills the air with magic. Santa gathers his reindeer, feeds them parsnips and berries, and polishes his bells and his sled. Then, with great care, he chooses toys for every child in the world. For Santa loves them all dearly - and he knows what each child's heart desires most."

I've heard a lot of chatter about The Christmas Magic, written by Lauren Thompson and illustrated by Jon J. Muth. All good chatter, so when I checked it out for myself, I definitely wasn't disappointed.


There is an air of the magical throughout the book, building as each page is turned. If you have a child that still believes in Santa, this would be an awesome choice for a Christmas Eve read. Reading about Santa's simple preparations for his night out on the sleigh is a lot of fun.


This one will be sticking around my house until I have kids of my own to read it to. It's really does have a great feeling surrounding it, and with the soft illustrations it would make for a great night-before-Christmas read.


The Christmas Magic
Lauren Thompson
40 pages 
Picture Book
Scholastic
9780439774970
September 2009
Review copy received from publisher


To learn more, or to purchase, click on the book cover above to link to Amazon. I am an Associate and will receive a tiny commission for your purchase. Thanks!

Each day leading up to Christmas, I'm going to feature a Children's book that I've really enjoyed and would make a great choice to share with your family for the holidays. It may be one I've loved for years or one I've just recently found, but all would be great additions to your Christmas story list. Hopefully you'll find something to enjoy!

Jacket description:
"It's Christmas Eve! Two children and their parents gather in the darkened pine-scented room, just as they do each year. There stands the Christmas tree, glowing with candles and laden with ornaments, many of which they have made and are unique.


A surge of memories envelops them at the sight of the tree. The family's voices intertwine us as they share remembrances of a family, friends, places, and events, recounting their own lives through the stories of each decoration."

Who doesn't live Aliki? And who doesn't love reminiscing each year about the different ornaments on your tree? Just a week ago, as I was going through a box of ornaments from my childhood, ones I had not seen for many years, I came across one I made when I was in first grade and I thought to myself "you know you were a child of the 80's when it was perfectly ok to make an ornament in school out of a disposable ashtray." How funny is that?? Gold, cheap metal ashtray, with my picture in the middle. hehe

It's memories like that, that build up Aliki's beautiful family story. Who needs bright and shiny, new ornaments, when the old, beaten, and sometimes ugly ones, have such great stories attached?


I love this as a family read aloud or for a storytime precursor to an ornament craft. Just don't use ashtrays!


Christmas Tree Memories
Aliki
30 pages
Picture Book
HarperCollins
9780060200077
September 1991
Copy borrowed from my local library

To learn more, or to purchase, click on the book cover above to link to Amazon. I am an Associate and will receive a tiny commission from your purchase (though I believe this one is out of print). Thanks!

Each day leading up to Christmas, I'm going to feature a Children's book that I've really enjoyed and would make a great choice to share with your family for the holidays. It may be one I've loved for years or one I've just recently found, but all would be great additions to your Christmas story list. Hopefully you'll find something to enjoy!

I'm combining today's Christmas book with Non-Fiction Monday. Two for one day :)

Jacket description:
"Who would like a Christmas tree? That all depends on when you ask. In January, in February, in March, in April... the black-capped chickadees, the white-tailed deer,  and the woodcock come to claim the tree. They want it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, for shelter and protection, for a place to start a new family. Can a Christmas tree be all that? Yes, and even more...The year has just begun!"


You'll learn much more about Christmas trees (specifically Balsam firs and Fraser firs) than you ever thought possible with author Ellen Bryan Obed's and illustrator Anne Hunter's book. Though we use Christmas trees only in December, different animals use them all year long for all sorts of important tasks like eating, storing food, and building nests.

We get information not only on trees, but also on the different birds and animals that make use of the trees, such as chickadees, robins, spiders, and foxes. We learn all sorts of facts about these creatures, while celebrating the trees that we love (in December of course!). I think the illustrations were beautiful and really celebrated each season...not just the Christmas season!

A great classroom book to use around this time of year, as a jumping-off point for projects and activities.


Who Would Like a Christmas Tree? : A Tree for All Seasons
Ellen Bryan Obed
32 pages
Non-Fiction
Houghton-Mifflin
9780547046259
September 2009
Review copy received from publisher


To learn more or to purchase, click on the book cover above to link to Amazon. I am an Associate and will receive a tiny commission from your purchase. Thanks!

Each day leading up to Christmas, I'm going to feature a Children's book that I've really enjoyed and would make a great choice to share with your family for the holidays. It may be one I've loved for years or one I've just recently found, but all would be great additions to your Christmas story list. Hopefully you'll find something to enjoy!

"When a bad leak ruins the sacristy wall in his father's church, Jonathan Jefferson Weeks thinks his family's first Christmas Eve service in Detroit will be ruined too. Luckily, he and his father find a beautiful tapestry for sale in a secondhand shop-just the thing to cover the damaged wall and give the church a festive look!

But there is more to the tapestry, as they discover when an old Jewish woman who is visiting the church recognizes the lovely old cloth. It is her discovery that leads to a real miracle on this unforgettable Christmas Eve."

Patricia Polacco is awesome in all the books she's written, but I really do love this one. A great mixture of a holiday story, family relationships and history, love, and different cultures coming together. It's a bit longer than in text than a typical picture book, so older kids will probably get more out of it than your younger ones.

Not a flat-out Christmas book, but a lovely family read aloud that includes the holidays, some Christian traditions, some Jewish traditions, and fabulous miracle at the end!


Christmas Tapestry
Patricia Polacco
48 pages
Picture Book
Philomel
9780399239557
September 2002
Copy borrowed from library


To learn more or to purchase, click on the book cover above to link to Amazon. I am an Associate and will receive a tiny commission from your purchase. Thanks!

Each day leading up to Christmas, I'm going to feature a Children's book that I've really enjoyed and would make a great choice to share with your family for the holidays. It may be one I've loved for years or one I've just recently found, but all would be great additions to your holiday story list. Hopefully you'll find something to enjoy!
 If you haven't already noticed, I've been featuring a whole lot of Jane Yolen on the blog lately. I can't help it, I just love her books, and I know I'm not alone in that. She's a fantastic author of all types of picture books, so I thought it appropriate to feature one of her's for my Holiday Books feature. Enjoy!

Under the Star: A Christmas Counting Story is illustrated by Vlasta van Kampen (and beautifully so). Written by Yolen for the younger set of kiddos, each page spread helps the reader to count up, starting with one and ending with ten, all focusing on getting closer to the manger with the baby Jesus inside.

The book features an angel, the shepherds, sheep, cows, etc, all anxious to know who is in the manger. A very nice way to help introduce the idea of the nativity and the manger, as well as work on simple counting skills. The illustrations are simple, yet bold, and should have no problem holding your little one's attention.

A quick read for sure, but perfect for those with a short "sitting still" ability!


Under the Star: A Christmas Counting Story
Jane Yolen
24 pages
Picture Book
Kids Can Press
9781554702015
November 2009
Review copy received from publisher


To learn more or to purchase, click on the book cover above to link to Amazon. I am an Associate and will receive a tiny commission from your purchase. Thanks!

Each day leading up to Christmas, I'm going to feature a Children's book that I've really enjoyed and would make a great choice to share with your family for the holidays. It may be one I've loved for years or one I've just recently found, but all would be great additions to your holiday story list. Hopefully you'll find something to enjoy!

 
Who doesn't love Allen Say as an author? He has written some of my favorite titles that I grew up with, including Tree of Cranes. This lovely book tells of a boy's first experience with Christmas, even all the way across the world in Japan. His mother creates a Christmas tree out of paper cranes and candles and a small tree from their yard and tells the boy what Christmas is like in California.
A beautiful story and one that infuses another culture into our own. A great message of peace and love is given and even young children will enjoy Say's magnificent illustrations. This is one I will be reading year after year.


Tree of Cranes
Allen Say
32 pages
Picture Book
Houghton-Mifflin Harcourt
9780395520246
October 2009

To learn more or to purchase, click on the book cover above to link to Amazon. I am an Associate and will receive a teeny percentage of your purchase price. Thanks!

Each day leading up to Christmas, I'm going to feature a children's book that I've really enjoyed and would make a great choice to share with your family for the holidays. It may be one I've loved for years or one I've just recently found, but all would be great additions to your holiday story list. Hopefully you'll find something to enjoy!

Author Terry Kay and illustrator Eileen Blyth have teamed up to create a beautiful telling of the three shepherds who heard the voice of God and went to see the baby laying in the manger in a barn. Each shepherd is more different than the last, but when they hear that voice telling them of the birth of Christ, they are instantly the same in their belief.
I really loved the honesty of the story and the focus on those shepherds that we always hear about, but just seem to gloss over in the Christmas story. The message is a strong one, that no matter how different we may be, if we believe in God, we are one and the same. This would make a really nice family story to sit down and discuss the true meaning of Christmas.

In an author's note, we learn that this story began as a simple reading to create a church Christmas program, but has obviously since been published. I'm so glad someone found this gem and made a book out of it!

Short and sweet, with beautiful illustrations, this is one you should definitely check out this Christmas season.

To Whom the Angel Spoke: A Story of Christmas
Terry Kay
32 pages
Picture Book
Peachtree Publishers
9781561455027
October 2009
Review copy received from publisher

Ohhhh and I promised you giveaway hints. Well, I have a BIG upcoming giveaway...one you are not going to want to miss. Make sure you watch and enter quickly, as the giveaway will only be up for a couple of days, in order for me to get you the books in time for Christmas. And yes, I did say books! Lots of them!

To learn more about this book, or to purchase, click on the book cover above to link to Amazon. I am an Associate and will receive a teeny commission on your purchase. Thanks!

Each day leading up to Christmas, I'm going to feature a children's book that I've really enjoyed and would make a great choice to share with your family for the holidays. It may be one I've loved for years or one I've just recently found, but all would be great additions to your holiday story list. Hopefully you'll find something to enjoy!

On This Special Night, written by Claire Freedman and illustrated by Simon Mendex, is a sweet story of a very curious kitten, anxious to know why there is one amazingly bright star in the sky. Each animal he goes to, from Lamb, to the mice, and Calf, each knows why the star is so bright, but just when the story is about to be told, another visitor arrives to the barn, finally ending with the baby everyone has been waiting for!

A really nice way to emphasize the story of Jesus' birth without a full "religion" basis, this beautifully illustrated picture book would be a great read aloud for your younger children, those not quite to the level of understanding the reason for the season. Great as a bedtime book! Very soothing and calming.

I'll definitely be buying this one as a gift this year, it would make a sweet Christmas choice or a nice baby gift for a December shower.


On This Special Night
Claire Freedman
32 pages
Picture Book 
Scholastic
9780545104869
September 2009
Borrowed from library, then received a review copy from publisher


To learn more or to purchase, click on the book cover to link to Amazon. I am an Associate and will receive a small commission from your purchase. Thanks!

Each day leading up to Christmas, I'm going to feature a children's book that I've really enjoyed and would make a great choice to share with your family for the holidays. It may be one I've loved for years or one I've just recently found, but all would be great additions to your holiday story list. Hopefully you'll find something to enjoy!

For the first installment of this daily feature, I would love to talk about one of my all-time favorite Christmas stories, The Polar Express. Now, I know this is not even remotely new book, but it is such a wonderful classic, I truly feel all should own a copy. Author (and Caldecott winner), Chris Van Allsburg, is celebrating the 25th Anniversary of this awesome story about a young boy and his wonderful imagination, as he takes a trip to the North Pole to see Santa.


This new edition features the same beautiful story and illustrations as the original book, but also comes with a recorded version of the story by Liam Neeson. Pretty fantastic to say the least.

My husband and I will be reading this magical story to our own children someday, for now I read it to myself and will enjoy a nice dose of Tom Hanks when we snuggle up and watch the movie sometime this month.

If by some strange chance you grew up without this book in your life, grab a copy from the library or buy one for yourself and your family for Christmas. Such an awesome, wonderful, magical story!

The Polar Express
Chris Van Allsburg
32 pages
Picture Book
Houghton Mifflin Company
9780395389492
October 1985 (reissued for 25th Anniversary, 2009)
Review copy received from publisher


To learn more or to purchase, click on the book cover above to link to Amazon. I am an Associate and will receive a small commission from your purchase. Thanks!