Cherished Books
for Christmas
By Holly E. Newton
Christmas time is the perfect time to celebrate the feeling of family and of cherished memories of Christmas’s present — and past. Here is a list of books that evoke those special times to read aloud to your special loved ones — younger and older.
Miracle on 49th Street, by Mike Lupica, is a wonderful story about a girl who seeks out a father whom she’s never known. Twelve-year-old Molly has recently lost her mother to cancer and is living with her mom’s best friend. Molly's mother left her a letter about the true identity of her father, who turns out to be a professional basketball player who doesn’t know of Molly’s existence.
But her life is about to change when she decides to go to the Celtics’ practice and meet the famous Josh Cameron. When she pops her head up from behind the car hood, he’s surprised, but tells her “no autographs.” She explains that she doesn’t want an autograph. She wants to tell him something very important. But he tries to ignore her by getting into his car. When she is able to convey the message that the girl he really truly loved has just died and that Molly is his daughter, he doesn’t believe her and drives off.
This all takes place in the first 2 chapters. The story is well-written, compelling, convincing and heartfelt. The miracle that takes place happens on the last sentence and on Christmas day. Here is a book that kids, including sports enthusiasts, reluctant readers and ages 9 through 13, will not stop reading until completed!
The rest of the fiction and picture books are perfect for all ages!
I didn’t realize
the Truman Capote wrote a beautiful picture book autobiography about Christmas
when he was young. A Christmas Memory is a story about his
life as a young boy living with a distant aunt in rural
When they set out to make their annual fruitcake, you can almost smell the sweet air by Capote’s wonderful descriptions. “Eggbeaters whirl, spoons spin round in bowls of butter and sugar, vanilla sweetens the air, ginger spices it: melting, nose-tingling odors saturate the kitchen, suffuse the house, drift out to the world on puffs of chimney smoke.” The delightful illustrations, by Beth Peck, and the enclosed CD inside, only enhance this peek into a time long gone.
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Now,
how about reading some classics by two classic authors? Here are two reissues,
with illustrations, that make these two books a must for this season. A
Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens, is the original text with illustrations,
by the renowned P.J. Lynch, that seem to lift the words off the page in
picture form. And The Gift of the Magi, by O. Henry, is another
classic that all families should be familiar with. Lisbeth Zwerger illustrates
this oversized picture book with a similar flair of displaying life around
the turn of the 20th century.
And while we’re on the subject of Christmas in the past, Tomie DePaola’s Christmas Remembered, will also present this wonderful celebration over many of his own Christmases — beginning with his earliest memory of Christmas when he was three, back in the 1930’s. His trademark illustrations only add to this appealing and insightful look into Christmas’s past.
If you’re looking for a picture book that has a glowing story of love and anticipation and acceptance, The Story of Holly & Ivy, by Rumer Godden, and wonderfully illustrated by Barbara Cooney, has all of the elements that would be perfect for a Christmas Eve reading. Here is a reissue, first published with pictures back in 1985, about a young orphan, a doll and a childless couple who all come together on Christmas Eve.
The First Christmas Stocking, by Elizabeth Winthrop, and beautifully illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline, is a picture book that’s bound to become a classic. This is the story of a young girl who learns to knit intricate patterns like her mother. Her hard work and long hours would have paid off as she was to sell all in order to have enough candles to light their home. But, instead, she gives all of her special stockings away to a poor cold child.
And lastly, the sacred setting of Christmas Eve as every household awaits the morning sun to rise, the hush and glow of the evening is portrayed on every glorious page of Thomas Kinkade’s paintings set to the text of Silent Night.