Happy Christmas!

Well, so I kept to my family Advent tradition, which is to get overwhelmed and behind and angsty and a little sick, so that I have to go to an urgent care center. So -- fa la la la la la, or whatever.

But I do have a list of Advent books I meant to share with you, and the urchins actually expressed interest in making sure the new Advent books were up to our family's standards, by which I think they meant that they want to tell you about their favorite books from when they were seven -- which is also absolutely fine. So watch this space!

But mostly I want to tell you that I wish for you -- wherever you are -- the most wonderful and joy-filled Christmas. I hope you are having (or have had -- I'm talking to you, my dear and fabulous neighbors) a day of family and food and love, and that you feel the peace and light that the season brings.

I wish all of you the happiest of Christmas seasons!

Advent Calendar: Day 11

Here is a beautiful and heartwarming book for you today, in the middle of the eight days of Chanukah. There are a couple of reasons I love this book and wanted to recommend it to you. First -- look how pretty the illustrations are! The muted colors and soft tones beautifully evoke a winter night -- the first night of Chanukah as well as Christmas Eve, 1938. We meet Oskar, a newly arrived immigrant who has fled Germany in the wake of Kristallnacht -- "The Night of Broken Glass." As Oskar (who carries only a photograph and his aunt's address) walks through Manhattan toward his new home, he encounters the holiday sights and sounds of the city, and experiences several different acts of kindness. This book shows us that good people are everywhere if we are paying attention -- and that blessings abound even in times that seem dark.

Seems pretty timely to me.

The Christmas Baby

I love this little book, aimed at the youngest readers and listeners. Part of its appeal for me is that as the story unfolds we get a real sense of Joseph's  excitement at the coming birth of the Baby, and of his worry that he will not be able to find a warm and safe spot for his wife to rest. When at last he and Mary reach the stable and the Baby is born, the great Good News spreads from the animals who witness the birth to the angels and the shepherds, and even to kings in distant lands. 

This is a sweet one for your basket, and you can get it as a board book, too -- for your more "rugged" readers!

There is no such thing as "too much fancy."

This is a fabulous, wintry story about having fun in the snow. Our Fancy Nancy just knows how to make sure that every snow day is the best, best day! When school is canceled, she and her friends make plans to ensure that a day full of snowy fun will not be thwarted -- even by a babysitter!

Around these parts we are still wearing our shorts and t-shirts, even as December edges ever forward; I have to tell you  -- it just seems wrong! But any family who reads a "Fancy Nancy" storybook will be carried away; your imagination will help you enjoy Nancy's excellent snowy adventures!

Come on, Big Snow!

Well, so we are in the middle of a freakish heat wave around these parts, and as a lover of all things summery, I cannot say I am totally opposed. But at the same time it does seem odd to be wearing shorts to the Boy Scout Christmas tree lot. So, yes. I wish it would snow. 

But it doesn't look like I will get my wish any time before Christmas this year, so instead, as my offering for the seventh day of our Advent calendar, I will offer you this fabulous book that is a short and gorgeous illustrated biography of Wilson Bentley, who pioneered the photographic technique needed to capture images of individual snowflakes. This book was a big hit with my own urchins back in the olden days. And even though it is written in a voice that is suited to young readers and listeners, the twenty-four-year-old tall boy has made reference to it even in more recent years.

"Under the microscope, I found that snowflakes were miracles of beauty; and it seemed a shame that this beauty should not be seen and appreciated by others. Every crystal was a masterpiece of design and no one design was ever repeated., When a snowflake melted, that design was forever lost. Just that much beauty was gone, without leaving any record behind." -- Wilson Bentley (1925)

What I most like about this book is the contrast between the beautifully rustic illustrations of the story itself (evoking the rural Vermont farm that was Bentley's home) and the dramatic photographs that are included at the back of the book. These photos are images taken by Bentley himself. They are so fabulous, especially when you realize that he was working in the late 19th century; he captured the very first photographic image of a snowflake in 1885.

Your young science nerds and snow lovers will be so happy to read this book!