Advent Reading
OK, so I confess that the Mormon publishing link here is tenuous at best. But the illustrator of my favorite children’s Christmas book ever says in his bio. that he lives in Salt Lake City and has six kids. I think that’s close enough.
We have a collection of books that only come out in December, and I love many of them–some just because my kids love them, some because they evoke memories of my childhood (there’s a ghastly scratch-and-sniff book called The Sweet Smell of Christmas that is an all-time favorite because it’s one the kids’ father had as a child), and a few because they are beautiful.
Christmas Day in the Morning, though, seems not just beautiful, but very nearly perfect to me. The prose is spare, but rich enough, full of deep feeling without ever lapsing into sentimentality. I almost never make it through without tears, but I’m not resentful, as I am with, say, The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey, where the intent to draw those tears is so blamed obvious (and so !#$@#! successful. Every. Time. Grrrrrrr.). I imagine that if I had grown up on a farm, it might seem a little romanticized to me, but I suffer from the faux-nostalgia for a simple farming life that afflicts most North American non-farmers, so it works for me. And I like Buehner’s illustrations very much; they seem, like the prose, not over-sweet or precious.
So, I have some questions: what do you read to your children at Christmastime? What do you think makes a good Christmas book? And have you found grown-up Advent reading that is satisfying? I’ve tried a few collections and a couple of novels (whose very names I have sworn will never cross my lips), but I haven’t found quite the right thing. The Story of the Other Wise Man, A Child’s Christmas in Wales, The Gift of the Magi, and a few others inevitably get read at least once a year, but I don’t think I have found the perfect Christmas book yet. Maybe one of you is writing it?
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December 5th, 2008 at 9:37 am
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Last year when my oldest son was 3/4 and again this year as he’s 4/5 (his birthday is in December), we’re reading this illustrated version of A Christmas Carol. Although he has a hard time settling down for it, he really enjoyed it. In fact, the reason we’re reading it again is because he started asking me if we could last month.
December 5th, 2008 at 9:38 am
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Oops. Botched the link.
http://www.amazon.com/Christmas-Carol-Charles-Dickens/dp/0763631205/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1228494902&sr=1-2
There.
December 5th, 2008 at 9:49 am
Just a little sidetrack to say that Kristine’s guess is correct. This is what the illustrator’ bio at Amazon says:
Mark Buehner
Name pronounced Bee-ner; born 1959, in Salt Lake City, UT; Education: Attended University of Utah, 1981-82; Utah State University, B.S., 1985. Religion: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormon). Hobbies and other interests: Interior and landscape design.
December 5th, 2008 at 12:20 pm
I’m not nearly as sophisticated as you folks.
We read Mr. Willoughby’s Christmas Tree and The Forgotten Carols.
The first is fun, the second we find meaningful — brings to life the reason why the Savior is so important, on many different fronts.
December 5th, 2008 at 12:32 pm
We have a bunch of Christmas books that we read year round. I’m not organized enough to put them away when the season is over. A favorite of mine of older kids (but not quite tweens) is Madeleine L’Engle’s _The Twenty Four Days Before Christmas_. Also,growing up, every single Christmas Eve my dad would recite Luke 2 from memory and then read us _The Other Wise Man_. Haven’t read it since I left home, though. It might be worth checking out.
December 5th, 2008 at 5:25 pm
In addition to Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, my father would also read to us Dylan Thomas’ A Child’s Christmas in Wales every year (sometimes a couple of times). We loved the parts about the uncles and hunting cats with snowballs. Lots of wonderful humor, lyricism, and wonder worked through this classic. I think it’s also one of the many reasons I ended up writing poetry.
December 6th, 2008 at 1:28 am
You might also like to see our movie of The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey. A family film that is for people who prefer traditional Christmas fare.
December 6th, 2008 at 9:50 am
Kristine, I love _Christmas Day in the Morning_ too. It’s purely lovely and makes me cry.
We have a Christmas book exchange for my book club’s Christmas party, and just a couple of days ago I picked up a new book called _Santa Duck_ for that event (and grabbed another one for my own family). There’s nothing insightful or lovely about it–it’s just funny. If you have kids in grade school, they’d think it’s hilarious. (“Jingle quack, Jingle quack, Jingle all the quack” being one of the many funny lines.)
And of course, who can forget _The Best Christmas Pageant Ever_?
December 9th, 2008 at 10:29 pm
I recommend _The Family Under the Bridge_ written by Natalie Savage Carlson with wonderful, perfect pictures by Garth Williams. It won a Newbery Honor and is a charming story of an unusual Christmas. My husband and I read it aloud every Christmas season. Which reminds me . . . we need to get it out and read it soon.