When I saw Hannah's Bookmobile Christmas at the library, I knew I had to read a picture book that combines two of my favorite things: books and Christmas. When I was a girl growing up in Scotland, there was a bookmobile that would come to our little dead-end street every few weeks, and I used to love climbing up into the back of it and looking for more books. I haven't seen a bookmobile since, but I enjoyed reading this reminder that they do indeed still exist.

This story is about a girl named Hannah who likes to ride along with her Aunt Mary who, along with her cat named Dickens (!), drives a blue bookmobile named Blue Bird. We follow them along to several stops, witnessing the enjoyment and sense of community that are built around this mobile library. 

When a snowstorm keeps them from getting up a hill, Hannah realizes she might have to spend Christmas Eve stuck in the bookmobile. But really, is that such a bad thing? 

Scrounged From: Our local library

Format: Hardcover
Author: Sally Derby
Illustrator: Gabi Swiatkowska
Pages: 32
Content Advisory: None

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For today's Christmas Books post, rather than focusing on one particular book, we're going to feature several classic short stories that celebrate the Christmas season and have stood the test of time.

The first is The Gift of the Magi, by O. Henry. While there is a picture book version of this story, the full text is also available on various websites, such as this one. It is also included in The Book of Virtues. This touching, humorous story involves a young married couple (Della and Jim) who are struggling to afford Christmas gifts for each other. After each makes a decision to sell one thing to buy another, they realize that their decisions ultimately resulted in useless gifts! But the focus of the story is on their love for each other despite their difficult circumstances.

The second is Papa Panov's Special Day. Apparently this story was originally written by Reuben Saillens, a French author, and retold at a later time by Russian author Leo Tolstoy. The text of the Tolstoy version is available here. This story is about a shoemaker who has a dream in which Jesus tells him that he will visit him on Christmas day. Various people in need show up on Christmas, and each time Papa Panov helps them, wondering when Jesus himself will arrive. This story is an embodiment of Matthew 25:35-40 in which Jesus says that when we give to the "least of these," we are really giving to him. The basic story has been adapted in other ways as well, such as "The Christmas Guest," (here's a video that contains the audio of Andy Griffith narrating that story -- and here's one of Johnny Cash and another of Reba McEntire doing the same).

Lastly is Henry Van Dyke's The Story of The Other Wise Man. Van Dyke wrote a poem called "Thou Wayfaring Jesus," which Professor Puzzler and I recorded as a song a few years back. This story (text available online here) involves one of the magi named Artaban, who is delayed in his search for the Christ child, and ends up giving away his treasure in various ways, including one incident where he saves a child from Herod's soldiers. It is similar to the Papa Panov story above (though longer) in that Artaban discovers at the end that he had truly found the Lord by giving of himself to "the least of these."

Recently I was introduced to Elly MacKay's illustrations via Red Sky at Night (review here), and was captivated by her unique images, full of texture and light. So I was pretty excited to see that she has a Christmas book available too.

Waltz of the Snowflakes is the wordless story of a girl whose grandmother invites her out to see a ballet. The girl is not all that inerested -- she has to wear a fancy dress and go out in the rain, and doesn't seem to be enjoying herself. But as the Nutcracker story begins, she becomes more and more engaged and awed by the beautiful dances and scenes unfolding on the stage -- she even catches a snowflake during that lovely waltz (my personal favorite of all the Nutcracker pieces).

By the end of the story, she is waltzing her way home -- quite a contrast to the beginning! For those of us who have loved The Nutcracker from a young age, this story evokes all kinds of nostalgia, and celebrates a beautiful, iconic Christmas tradition.

Format: Hardcover
Author/illustrator: Elly MacKay
Pages: 32
Content Advisory: None

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Set during the Depression Era, The All-I'll-Ever-Want Christmas Doll is the story of three sisters who long for a particular baby doll, and are surprised when their parents get them one since there is not much money to spare. Young Nella declares that since she wrote to Santa and believed and wanted the doll the most, she should have her. But she soon finds out that having one toy all to yourself is not really as fun as it seems -- that toys are much better when shared.

Not only is this a sweet Christmas story (as well as an appropriate after-Christmas story for children on how to deal with those new toys), it's also a nostalgic reminder for those of us adults who experienced Christmas with siblings (especially sisters), showing both the trials and joys of growing up together. 

Scrounged From: Our local library

Format: Hardcover
Author: Patricia McKissack
Illustrator: Jerry Pinkney
Pages: 40
Content Advisory: None

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Silent Night is one of my favorite Christmas carols, and I'm sure many Christmas music lovers would say the same thing. As a kid, I watched a movie called "Silent Mouse," which told the story of Silent Night, while focusing on the mouse that supposedly chewed a hole in the organ bellows. I remember one particular character in the movie was quite upset that a guitar was used in church instead of the organ, but I have no idea whether that tidbit was made up for the movie or not.

Either way, Silent Night: A Christmas Carol Is Born tells the story of how the carol came to be (without making mention of any anti-guitar crusaders). It happened in a small town in Austria in 1818, and it was Father Joseph Mohr and Franz Gruber who composed the words and melody of the song that would become one of the most loved Christmas carols of the next 200 years.

This book walks us through the disappointment at the loss of the organ and details the imagined conversations between the two men who got together to bring a special song to their congregation that Christmas Eve. While the story is not highly dramatic, I very much enjoyed it, and found it poignant and evocative of the quiet contemplative nature of the carol. What would it have been like to be there on that night to hear its first performance?

The book includes the first verse of Silent Night (as well as musical notation) at the appropriate point in the story. There is also an author's note with a few more details about the people and place surrounding the carol's birth.

Scrounged From: Our local library

Format: Hardcover
Author: Maureen Brett Hooper
Illustrator: Kasi Kubiak
Pages: 32
Content Advisory: None

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