Unwrapping a book from under the tree has always been my favorite Christmas morning experience, and the intent of our Gift Guide and Giveaway is to provide some of our own personal recommendations as you shop for the ones you love. How about adding some Christmas books to your list? Here are a couple books that span from children to adult readers.
The beauty of this classic holiday tale shines through in John Cech’s new version of The Nutcracker, amazingly illustrated by Eric Puybaret. The full story is told with detail and flair in this picture book for older children, with a lengthy text that invites parents and children to snuggle under a blanket for an extended reading aloud session, preferably by a warm fire. (Maybe this just happens to be my own image of a perfect Christmas story time.)
If you’re at all familiar with the holiday ballet, you won’t be disappointed by Cech’s version, which also incorporates other details true to the original story The Nutcracker and the Mouse King by E.T.A. Hoffman. The illustrations in this book are truly exquisite, with the fantastic creatures depicted in long, angular lines, just as nutcrackers ought to be. The vibrant color hue is perfectly suited to the season, and parents will delight in reading this story aloud as much as children will enjoy hearing it!
Secrets of a Christmas Box is a middle-grade novel that creates a world inhabited by the Christmas tree ornaments and lights in one suburban family’s collection. The story opens with Larry, a glass snowman ornament, along with his girlfriend Debbie and a new-to-the-collection toy soldier dubbed Splint, searching for one of their own who seems ‘not to have made it back’ to the tree this year. They make the fateful decision to break the ultimate rule for the Tree-Dwellers, leaving the tree itself, in an effort to search out the Christmas Box where they are stored every year. Along the way, they find danger, adventure and challenges galore. The tone and pace of the action are just the right fit for an older elementary school audience, and Hornby paints a whimsical world in what has become a staple of every holiday season for so many children.
With suspenseful and surprising moments, Secrets of a Christmas Box makes for a great read during the holidays, and I personally look forward to sharing this story with my own nine year old this winter. I predict that each time I glance in the tree’s direction, I’ll be watching for any sly movements amongst the ornaments. You never know, right?
For the final book, let me start by saying that my adoration for the writing of Wally Lamb is immeasurable. From this humble reader’s judgment, Lamb is a masterful storyteller whose incredible talent at creating ultra-believable characters never ceases to astound me. While we had to wait years between his last two novels (what felt like many, many years for his devoted fans), he has followed up on last year’s The Hour I First Believed with a new novella, Wishin’ and Hopin’.
Back in the fall of 1964, Felix Funicello, third cousin on his father’s side to that famous former Mouseketeer Annette, was a fifth grader at St. Aloysius Gonzaga Parochial school in the town of Three Rivers, Connecticut. (Readers of Wally Lamb will recognize this fictional town from his previous works, and should know that this is based upon the area in Eastern Connecticut where he resides, and where I hail from, as well!) When he’s not avoiding the punishments of the Sisters at school, he can be found at his family’s lunch counter in the New London bus station, where he is exposed to a whole different world of conversations and adult asides that his ten-year-old brain can’t always seem to figure out. Told in his childhood voice, the story that unfolds over the next few months is as outrageously funny and endearingly realistic as can be. From one mischievous act flow a series of events that make for the most memorable school year of Felix’s life.
Somehow, Lamb brings to life the feeling of this area of Connecticut in a way that I have yet been able to articulate. But when I read this novella, I could hear my grandparents’ voices speaking to me, and the familiarity of the culture of this area leaped off the page. Even within the exact time frame, I could imagine my own father among Felix and his classmates, especially since I’ve been privy to some of the mischievous tales from his youth! Once you start to read Wishin’ and Hopin’, it’s very easy to forget about everything else around you. As a much shorter read than Lamb’s other publications, this is the perfect little book to stuff the stocking of spouse or parent, or to pick up for yourself during the few days work is closed over the holidays!
All Dawn wants for Christmas is a happy and healthy family, and perhaps more time to blog away at my thoughts exactly.
Now for the giveaway! One lucky winner will receive a signed copy of Secrets of a Christmas Box in velvet drawstring bag, with promotional stickers, pencils, and balloons, a copy of The Nutcracker, and a copy of Wishin’ and Hopin’! One runner-up will receive the gift package of Secrets of a Christmas Box. Please leave a comment here (just one!) to enter, U.S. only, please.
Entries will be closed on December 8, and we will announce the winners on December 9. Please watch your email and check the site for your name, so that we can collect your shipping information and you can get your gift by Christmas.
This giveaway is now closed. Thanks!
Be sure you’ve entered all the giveaways in our 2009 Gift Guide and Giveaway event.
I love buying books for my kids (winning is always better). These look beautiful.
These books look beautiful.
I love new books.
Good books are always welcome. Thanks for the contest!
My children would love to read these books. I would love to be able to read the nutcracker to them
My children would be thrilled to read these books.
Wow, you’ve covered the whole family. What a nice grouping for Christmas. Secrets of a Christmas Box sounds really neat.
My daughter loves the Nutcracker. She would love to get that one.
I would love to be entered.
Please enter me and thanks!
me mom would love these!
My kids would love these books!
What a great set! Thanks for the chance!
sherri419 at gmail dot com
This looks like a beautiful book, and my children would be so excited to read it if I were chosen as a winner.
My kids would love these.
In our family we span from 3 to 71 so these books would have a home
We could always use more Christmas books in our house!
janemaritz at yahoo dot com
My daughters would enjoy these!
I love Christmas books. Thanks for the giveaway.
s.mickelson at gmail dot com
These sound great. I would love to win, and read them.
Tis’ the season to be readin’ books such as these!
This looks like a great book combo for some holiday cheer. Thank you!
kirbycolby at gmail dot com
This would make a beautiful Christmas present for my niece.
I enjoy Wally Lamb’s works!
these books would make great additions to my daughters growing library. Thank you so much for thinking of us and offering these great giveaways
My 10 year old son would enjoy reading the books you have in this contest.
All of the books look great.
I love Christmas books.
Thanks for the chance to win; you can never have enough Christmas books!
I would love to read these to my son this Christmas! These would make great additions to his little library.
sounds cool
this looks great, hope I win!
I love being introduced to new Christmas stories and am especially interested in Secrets of a Christmas Box. thanks for the giveaway!
The Nutcracker is one of my favorites. Thanks what an awesome giveaway.
I can match a grandson to each of these books!
I’ve had “Secrets of a Christmas Box” on my shopping list, and would love to win it. I’ve heard so much about this wonderful book. The Nutcracker is a true favorite of my granddaughters. They listen to the music all year long,and would truly enjoy this book. Wally Lamb’s book would be of great interest to me because we have vacationed in that area of eastern Connecticut for many years. Anxious to read his novel.
Christmas books are my favorite.
These books would be a wonderful gift to my grandchildren.
I also adore Wally Lamb. Can’t wait to read this book. And how lovely to offer a beautiful book of the Nutcracker to introduce children to this story. Thanks.
Looks like a very nice set of books. The kids love re-reading their Christmas books this time of year.
I love books about Christmas and these sound great.
mightynaynay(at)cs.com
Looks great! Thanks for the giveaway!
Please enter me 🙂
Secrets of a Christmas Box is such a novel idea,I would love to win it for my grandson. [email protected]
Christmas time is a fun reading time.
I’d love to win.
Great prize, thanks for the chance to win.
The Secrets of A Christmas Box sounds great-I would love to enter!
These sound so good! I’d like to give them to my niece.
Thank you!