Books for Kids: Easy to wrap, delightful to read for the holidays

Article content

With the gift-giving season upon us, and picture books not only easy to wrap but good to share with the youngsters in your life, here are some seasonal suggestions worth checking out for ages 4 to 8.

Article content

Article content

Santa’s First Christmas
By Mac Barnett
Illustrated by Sydney Smith
Viking 

The combined talents of American author Mac Barnett and Canadian illustrator Sydney Smith have resulted in my favourite new Christmas book, an account of how Santa never had a chance to enjoy the holiday “in the old days.” He worked all year long to make toys at the North Pole and spent Christmas Eve delivering them around the world; if he was lucky, he got to sleep in an extra half-hour on Christmas Day before getting to work on the toys for next Christmas. When a visiting polar bear questions this process, the chagrined elves take it upon themselves to do “something special for Santa.”

Article content

To his surprise, he got breakfast in bed that day (delicious doughnuts!); joined the elves in choosing and decorating a handsome spruce tree (getting it into the house took some doing, but “aw, it’ll fit!”, said Santa); baking and icing cookies (Santa got to lick the spoon); telling stories and reading poems aloud; being visited by a tall bearded bear dressed in red carrying a sack full of gifts; and sitting down to a huge feast. At day’s end, a delighted Santa told the elves: “We should do this every year.” And now they do! 

An Anishinaabe Christmas
By Wab Kinew
Illustrated by Erin Hill
Tundra Books 

When Baby’s parents announce one winter solstice that they’re “going home to the Rez” to see Grandma and Grandpa (Kookom and Mooshom) and have “an Anishinaabe Christmas,” the child worries that “Santa won’t know where to find us on the Rez.” Once Baby is reassured that Santa “will always find us,” they load up their vehicle and head out of the city. En route, they talk about bears and nature and families of all kinds, about this time of year and the special Christmas gift Baby made for the grandparents, and Baby practises using Anishinaabe words (for which a pronunciation guide is provided at the end of the book). A welcome addition to the genre of holiday picture books, the colourful digital images created by Indigenous artist Erin Hill of Oakville, Ont., are a perfect complement to the text by award-winning Winnipeg author Wab Kinew, a former journalist and television host who last year was elected premier of Manitoba. 

Article content

Article content

A City Full of Santas
By Joanna Ho
Illustrated by Thai My Phuong
Harper 

The little girl at the heart of this book is determined to meet Santa face to face, but for five years has failed to do so. This year, however, her mother is taking her to “the big fancy store in the city” to meet him in real life. She’s sure she’ll know the real Santa by his smell (“like peppermint and chocolate”), his laugh (“like the sun clapping its hands”) and because he’ll make her feel “like a heart full of glitter.” In the city, she’s surrounded by Santas of all shapes and sizes, and when she’s finally on the lap of the Santa in the big fancy store, he doesn’t smell right, laugh right or make her feel right. Undaunted, she decides once again to wait up for him on Christmas Eve. Is this the year it works? 

Everett Green: The Not-So-Christmas Tree
By Freddy Wexler
Illustrated by Fanny Berthiaume
Random House 

A tongue-in-cheek story about a small plastic palm tree with big dreams. Everett is an entertainer at the Sandy Straw, “where shoppers munched through his monologues and sipped through his solos,” when he sees New York’s spectacular Christmas tree on television and decides that’s what he wants to be: “the most famous Christmas tree in the world.” His friends tell him it’ll never happen, but Everett is nothing if not determined. Overcoming more than a few obstacles, he makes it to the airport, where a winter storm strands all the would-be passengers — including Everett. When a little girl mistakes him for a Christmas tree, he rises to the occasion and entertains the crowd, encouraging everyone to drum up some Christmas spirit. Everett learns he doesn’t need to be the biggest or the best; it’s not about getting his name in lights, but about bringing joy — whether at an airport terminal, on a busy street or at the Sandy Straw. 

Article content

Chicka Chicka Ho Ho Ho
By William Boniface
Illustrated by Julien Chung
Beach Lane Books 

A glossy, colourful alphabet book (based on the lively classic Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault) in which the letters of the alphabet manage to work their way onto a Christmas tree as decorations, while colourful foil shapes (including “a circle with a shiny glow” and “a rhombus with a polka-dot bow”) are placed under the tree as gifts by the red-mittened hands of an unseen Santa. 

Eight Sweet Nights: A Festival of Lights
By Charlotte Offsay
Illustrated by Menahem Halberstadt
Doubleday Books for Young Readers 

This year, Hanukkah, the Jewish festival of lights, begins at sundown on Dec. 25. Charlotte Offsay’s book — appealingly illustrated by Menahem Halberstadt — does a warm, loving job of explaining the eight-day annual event that brings family members together over special foods, lighting the menorah, festive songs, child-pleasing games like spinning the dreidel, and exchanging gifts or donating to charity. An author’s note at the end of the book explains the religious and historical significance of Hanukkah. 

A Dragon for Hanukkah
By Sarah Mlynowski
Illustrated by Ariel Landy
Orchard Books 

An account of the magical (and imaginary?) gifts young Hannah receives from family and friends on the first seven days of Hanukkah — from a playful young dragon to a rainbow, treasure chest, merry-go-round and time-travel machine — and the latkes she makes as her gift on the last night, when family and friends share a special meal, play dreidel, sing songs and donate toys to charity. At the end of this book, in a two-page exchange between Hannah and her dragon, the author explains the significance of Hanukkah and the way Jewish families celebrate this annual event.  

Sign up for our parenting and advice newsletter at montrealgazette.com/newsletters.

Article content

Article content