✰✰✰✰✰ Faraway in Japan, a little boy breaks the rules. He knows he will be in trouble. When he returns home, he expects his mother to be waiting for him. Instead she ignores him. Is she really so angry she won't even talk to him? After a hot bath and a hot lunch, the little boy is sent to bed. Confused and hurt, he worries about his mother who seems so distant. Why is she acting so strangely?
Soon his mom returns with silver paper cranes, a little tree, and candles. Today is a very special day in the land where his mother grew up. It is Christmas. In the soft glow of candlelight, the little boy shares this special day of peace and love with his mother as she remembers her faraway home.
The Bottom Line: This sentimental tale celebrates the merging of two cultures. Say's gentle words combined with beautiful, soft watercolors highlights a time of peace, love, and hope as a mother shares a treasured tradition with her child. Highly recommended holiday reading for kids ages 4 - 8.
Details: Tree of Cranes written & illustrated by Allen Say. Hardcover picture book published by Houghton Mifflin Company in 1991. 32 p. ISBN: 978-0-395-52024-6
✰✰✰✰½ When a little boy plays with his shiny new dreidel on Chanukah, something magical happens. It keeps spinning and there’s no stopping it. It spins across the floor, along the hall, and out the door. The little boy and his family and friends join in the chase, but the dreidel is simply too fast. Where is it going? Will it ever stop? Check out this holiday tale and join in the fun.
The Bottom Line: Children of all ages will love this rhyming, holiday tale. Told in the style of The Night Before Christmas, this easy to read picture book is sure to be a seasonal classic. Illustrated in mixed media of oil paint and cut paper, the illustrations are comical and engaging. Highly recommended holiday reading with your little one.
Details: Runaway Dreidel! Written by Lesléa Newman & illustrated by Kyrsten Brooker. Hardcover picture book published by Henry Holt and Company in 2002. Unpaged. ISBN: 0-8050-6237-8
