The Winter Solstice

Why do the days get shorter in winter and longer in the summer time? This text heavy kids picture book explains it in both scientific and folkloric terms. Children will learn about the ways the ancient Romans, Celts, Scandinavians and other groups marked the changing of the seasons. Younger kids will need it read out loud to them, but a third or fourth grader could not only enjoy it on his/her own, but also use it as a resource for a school report on the solstice. The kids book is a "Children's Choice" selection of the International Reading Association/Children's Book Council. This children's book is for kids reading levels ages 6-10. Leave us your comments. Your feedback is greatly appreciated. Let us know what other children's books you would like to have reviewed. Share this post with your family and friends. Remember to always praise your child.

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 The Winter Solstice

Snowmen at Night

Does the tall and stately snowman, so carefully built one day, look a little disheveled a day later? His hat had slipped, his arms drooped down, he really looked a fright/ it made me start to wonder: What do snowmen do at night? When it really gets dark, those playful round guys slide to the park. There they enjoy ice cold cocoa before having races and acting like grinning clowns. The fun continues and the snowmen play baseball with their brooms, have a terrific snowball fight, and take wild rides downhill on sleds. When they are tuckered out, they gather their snowman paraphernalia to return home. Vivid and luminescent paintings capture the snowmen in their joyous pursuits. Readers are invited to look for hidden shapes throughout the illustrations. Join the frosty merry makers in poetic verse and learn why the grins of snowmen are a little crooked in the morning. A picture book that makes a smooth transition to a board book. This children's book is for children reading level ages 0-4. Babies, Preschoolers, and toddlers are sure to love this fun story. Leave us your comments. Your feedback is greatly appreciated. Let us know what other children's books you would like to have reviewed. Share this post with your family and friends. Remember to always praise your child.

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Snowmen at Night

Auntie Claus, Home for the Holidays

It is hard to make sense of this holiday-themed book. The moniker "Auntie Claus," splashed as it is across the cover, is attention-getting. Who is this Auntie Claus? What sort of modern Christmas tale is this, one might wonder? Unfortunately, the story itself disappoints. Sophie Kringle has to decide between being the Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker at Miss Crumpet's School for Young Ladies and Gentleman or going on her annual seasonal "business" trip with Auntie Claus. But Auntie Claus does not see it that way. She decides to stay in New York for Christmas because, she says, "You can have your cake and eat it too. At Christmastime that is the rule!" Soon, Auntie Claus seems to be running Christmas from the hotel. Many strange visitors arrive, including the real Sugar Plum Fairy. Initially eschewing sweets, she is coaxed by Sophie to eat some cake and other goodies. Time passes and we are told that "Red is the new black! New York is the new North Pole!" Christmas snow falls, threatening Sophie's performance at her school. The Sugar Plum Fairy has eaten so many sweets that she can no longer fit into her tutu. Sophie feels guilty, knowing that the Fairy could fit into her tutu. It seems a moot concern when the tutu is blown out of her hands and onto the tip of the hotel. Fortunately, Santa arrives and gives Sophie a lift to retrieve her costume. She gives her tutu to the Sugar Plum Fairy so that Christmas in New York is not ruined but then cannot perform in her school play. Auntie Claus proclaims she has the solution to this problem and whisks Sophie off to the North Pole, where she dances around in her coat. It seems the book's inhabitants find this to be a most agreeable conclusion, but I felt it was a muddle. It is hard to see how the solution fits the problem at all, and that is not the only problem with this book. How is it that the adult Sugar Plum Fairy's overindulgence in sweets plumps her out to the size of a very young girl? Was the fairy ridiculously skinny before? Was Sophie unhealthily overweight? What does any of this mean? It must mean that sequels are all the rage. The star of Auntie Claus and its sequel, Auntie Claus and the Key to Christmas is back. Odds are good her longtime fans may pick up this title, too. But smart shoppers unfamiliar with this series will stop to read between the covers and will not be adding this book to their holiday traditions. This Christmas children's book is for kids reading levels ages 4-8. Leave us your comments. Your feedback is greatly appreciated. Let us know what other children's books you would like to have reviewed. Share this post with your family and friends. Remember to always praise your child.

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Auntie Claus, Home for the Holidays

Katy and the Big Snow

For over sixty years young children have identified with Katy the snowplow who was always waiting for her big chance to plow her way to fame. For winter after winter, Katy has few opportunities to show off until the year of a big blizzard. Now Katy is challenged to keep chug, chug, chugging her way to rescue the citizens of Geopolis, helping all kinds of stranded people get to the hospital, to the airport, and, of course, to get safely home. This reissue of the kids story in paperback form is fancied up a bit with sparkle on the cover and stickers at the back. Children will certainly enjoy these add ons, but in the end, they are not necessary. It is Burton's tribute to perseverance and her wonderful sketchy drawings that will make yet another generation of children eager to hear the adventures of Katy again and again. This Christmas children's book is for kids reading levels ages 4-8. Leave us your comments. Your feedback is greatly appreciated. Let us know what other children's books you would like to have reviewed. Share this post with your family and friends. Remember to always praise your child.

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Katy and the Big Snow

A Wish for Elves

As Christmas time approaches, a young boy who is frustrated with all he has to do around the house to get ready for the holiday's wishes he had elves to help him out. At the North Pole, Santa ventures to his workshop to find all of his elves missing. He sets about putting up "missing elf" posters and trying to get the toys ready on his own. Meanwhile, the boy is awakened by his newly acquired elves. He puts them to work cleaning his room, doing the laundry, fixing his breakfast, and doing his homework. But things don't go quite as he planned; his clothes shrink, he gets a D on his homework, and there are just too many elves underfoot. He tries to sell them but doesn't have much luck; instead, he sends some sailing away attached to helium balloons. One elf makes it back to the North Pole, and Santa takes off to retrieve the rest. The boy happily gives them all back, except for "maybe just one or two" and everything gets back to normal just in time for Christmas. The text is very sparse, relying instead on the graphic format paneled illustrations to tell the bulk of the story. Bright, cheerful, geometric computer-generated illustrations in various shades of yellows, reds and greens are just waiting to be imitated in a classroom art or writing project. This Christmas children's book is for kids reading levels ages 4-8. Leave us your comments. Your feedback is greatly appreciated. Let us know what other children's books you would like to have reviewed. Share this post with your family and friends. Remember to always praise your child.

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A Wish for Elves

Snowmen at Christmas

The husband and wife team who created the popular kids book Snowmen at Night revisits their snowy creations to see how snowmen celebrate Christmas. With rhyming text that describes how the snowmen (and snow women, snow children, and one snow dog) gather late at night in the empty town for a holiday gathering. They decorate a tree, play games and enjoy icy-cold snacks (snow cones, of course) before the snowman Santa arrives with presents made of snow for all. Carols around the tree conclude the festivities and the snow folk take up their proper posts again just before the sun rises. The illustrations are infused with mysterious blue or lavender light that highlights the rounded figures of the snow people, with lots of additional sparkling effects from the town's Christmas lights and streetlights. The snowmen are quite lively for characters with no legs and twig thin arms, and they really do seem to have lives of their own that exist on some other icy plane. As in the previous story, there are tiny hidden pictures to search for in each illustration. This children's Christmas book is for kids reading levels ages 4-8. Leave us your comments. Your feedback is greatly appreciated. Let us know what other children's books you would like to have reviewed. Share this post with your family and friends. Remember to always praise your child.

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Snowmen at Christmas

Horrid Henry's Christmas

In this edition in a best-selling kids chapter book series from the U.K., self-centered Horrid Henry wreaks extreme havoc at the Nativity play, destroys the Christmas tree, and almost ruins the holiday lunch. His irresponsible actions are made tolerable through the ridiculousness of the incidents and the appeal to the naughty side in young readers’ personalities. Ross’s mischievous black-and-white cartoon drawings are the perfect choice to carry them off. Large print and simple vocabulary make this story book for kids an easy read and a fun read-aloud. This kids Christmas book is for youngsters reading levels ages 9-12. Leave us your comments. Your feedback is greatly appreciated. Let us know what other kids books you would like to have reviewed. Share this post with your family and friends. Remember to always praise your child.

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Horrid Henry's Christmas