Dream Snow is a Christmas book for young children that features Eric Carle's trademark bold and colorful illustrations, as well as some partially transparent pages that allow children to guess which of a farmer's animals is hidden behind each blanket of "dream snow."

At the end, the farmer dresses up as Santa Claus to go decorate his tree. The inside of the back cover includes a button to push which makes a cheery chiming sound. While there isn't much of a narrative here, it's still a fun book for kids that has some wonderfully magical Christmas images -- especially the white snow against the dark blue night.

Scrounged From: Our local library

Format: Hardcover
Author/Illustrator: Eric Carle
Pages: 32
Content Advisory: None

More Reviews at Amazon

The Very First Christmas is available in two (as far as I know) different formats: a board book, and a longer hardcover book aimed at older children. This review is going to focus on the board book since that's the version we have.

I got this board book when my oldest child was two years old, because I was looking for a story about the first Christmas that was "just the facts" -- no talking animals, no speculation about what might have happened -- just an overview of the story as told in Luke's gospel (not that there's anything wrong with more "creative" versions -- I just wanted something more basic first). That's pretty much exactly what this board book is. 

With warm, believable, reverent images, this book communicates the basic facts of the story in a way young children can understand. It begins with Roman history -- Caesar Augustus orders a census to be taken. Then were are introduced to Joseph and Mary separately before we are told of their journey together to Bethlehem. This does make the narrative a bit "choppy" in the beginning, especially for a book that has few words to begin with. But I think this anchoring is very important, and again makes for a fact-based telling of the story without watering it down.

This book is obviously aimed at believers, because at the end it states that we can also tell others about Jesus the way the shepherds did (so that is the one departure from the actual story from Luke). We've really liked making this book a part of our Christmas celebration, and keep it around during other times of the year too.

Recently I had a chance to read the hardcover version of this book. It's longer (aimed toward older elementary children), and the story focuses on a mother telling her son the Christmas story before bed. But this boy has told his mother that he doesn't want fairy tales anymore -- just facts! I can appreciate this longer version for what it's trying to do, and once again the images (many the same as the board book, but there are more of them here) are realistic and warm.

Ultimately, the hardcover version includes a good deal of speculation (the year/date of Jesus's birth, whether the "stable" has been found, etc.), especially considering it mostly just covers the story from Luke's gospel and leaves out most of the elements from Matthew's gospel (the angel appearing to Joseph, King Herod) -- very little is said about the magi from the East as well. This book might be nice for children who are already beginning to ask about extrabiblical information in the story, but otherwise I prefer the board book -- or for older children, simply reading the story from Luke's and Matthew's gospels.

Scrounged From: Amazon

Format: Board book
Author: Paul Maier
Illustrator: Francisco Ordaz
Pages: 20
Content Advisory: None

More Reviews at Amazon

For Day 13 of our Christmas Books series, we're featuring a book called The Christmas Ladder that is actually a short story in Kindle format, but is also personal because it was written by our neice (and she illustrated the cover as well), Annie Louise Twitchell, and is based on a true story from Professor Puzzler's family history.

In the story, Reverend Snow's young family does not have enough money for a Christmas tree, but he uses a little New Englander ingenuity to come up with a solution that works just as well.

This would be a lovely family read-aloud in the days leading up to Christmas!

Scrounged From: Amazon (Kindle)

Format: Kindle
Author: Annie Twitchell
Pages: 10
Content Advisory: None

More Reviews at Amazon

The Christmas Wish is an adorable book. While the vast marjority of the narrative has to do with a little girl named Anja (pronounced "ON-ya") making an epic journey across vast snowscapes to the North Pole, there is still plenty of Christmas cheer here, including Anja finally meeting up with Santa Claus at the end and helping to drive his sleigh.

This book is illustrated with photographs, which include some very realistic-looking images of Anja riding a horse, skiiing behind a reindeer, and curling up for a nap with a polar bear. This is a lovely little Christmas fantasy that portrays kindness and bravery, wrapped up in a bow of cuteness and beautiful Scandinavian landscapes.

Scrounged From: Our local library

Format: Hardcover
Author: Lori Evert
Ilustrator: Per Breiehagen
Pages: 48
Content Advisory: None

More Reviews at Amazon

Jan Brett is known for the beautiful and detailed artwork in her books, many of which are set in cold, snowy places. In The Wild Christmas Reindeer, the illustrations involve an entire pile of reindeer who manage to get their antlers all tangled up together! Teeka, one of Santa's helpers, is tasked with getting the reindeer straightened out before it's time to fly the sleigh -- can she do it?

While this story veers a bit from "traditional" Santa lore by giving the reindeer different names, such as Tundra, Bramble, and Lichen (which I think are quite appropriate), it is still a cute story that involves dealing with a confusing situation. On the sidebars of the main illustrations, we see other helpers getting ready as each page counts the way up to Christmas Eve.

Scrounged From: Our local library

Format: Hardcover
Author/illustrator: Jan Brett
Pages: 32
Content Advisory: None

More Reviews at Amazon