5 comments about Who Is Coming to Our House? (Board Book).

1. I am SO SICK of this book. I have to read it over and over and over again all day long. My daughter (17 months) will pull it from the bottom of a pile of books and bring it to me to read. On the final page she pats the baby's face and says "Baby. Baby." It's a very sweet little book and worth getting; your child will love it.



2. This book is a favorite for my two pre-school-aged children. We read it year-round.
   
   The rhymes of the tale are engaging. (I love the oft repeated line: "Someone, someone," says Mouse.)
   
   My only quibble with the book is the art work. It is not to my taste, though I think that that is more a matter of personal preference than anything else.



3. A wonderful little board book for the little ones. Nice size for them to handle! The Christmas story from the viewpoint of the stable animals is special. The colors are eye catching. Highly recommended!



4. My toddler class loved this book. They loved the repetition and every time I'd read the line "Who is coming to our house?" they'd yell Jesus!! It is a great story told from the animals' perspective and a wonderful addition to any preschooler's library!



5. This gentle story, told in simple rhyme, shows animals in a stable getting ready for a special guest. The block-print art, rich in earth-tones, gives a humble and loving feel to the scene. Each animal does what it can to prepare the stable, and when Mary and Joseph arrive, the animals stand in hushed anticipation. The final page shows all the animals gathered around the new baby Jesus, saying, "Welcome, welcome to our house!" A perfect read-aloud for little ones.

5 comments about Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree.

1. I always buy a Christmas-themed picture book for my children to read to them on Christmas Eve before bedtime. I got this one for my eight-year-old who is reading on a sixth grade level. Turns out we are never too old or too advanced to enjoy a good picture book. She loved the predictability of the story, and so did my six-year-old.



2. This is a marvelous story that tells of one Christmas tree that is far too much for just one person. The tree is trimmed, and shared, and trimmed, and shared, and trimmed, and shared until far more people than Mr. Willoby alone, along with many animal families, have a bit of the tree to add beauty to their Christmas festivities! The rhyming text makes it a fun story to read aloud to children!



3. All three of my boys (3, 7 & 9.5) really enjoyed this book. It magically appeared on our dining room table on Xmas Eve 2007. We read it together more than once and all gave it glowing reviews!



4. This has always been my favorite Christmas Book (just edging out "A Charlie Brown Christmas" by a glowing-red nose!). I'm happy to say that I own an original first printing of both books, but it's "Willowby" that I continue to purchase, year after year, for my friends and their children.
   
   The charm of this story lies in the "one person's discards are another person's treasures" category. The oversufficient tree that old man Willowby brings into his mansion is snipped on top to clear his cathedral ceiling, and every recipient into whose hands the pruned remnant falls must perform the same whittling fix to adapt the orphaned fir to his own, progressively more spartan, hovel. Passing from maidservant to gardener to a scavenging bear and other various critters, after smaller and smaller sprigs make the rounds throughout the countryside near Willowby's estate, the last one eventually ends up with a family of mice who just happen to live in Mr. Willowby's wall! Thus, one huge tree is inadvertently able to make everyone's Christmas a bit brighter! Joy to the world!
   
   Robert Barry's verses are easily read, and are exquisitely enhanced by the accompanying artwork -- especially the portrayal of the Benjamin Rabbit family. Too cute! While "Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree" is no doubt a children's story, at Christmas aren't we really ALL children? And what better way to enjoy one's Yuletide holiday than with a delightful, uplifting tale where everyone wins?



5. After having 3 children, I've read lots and lots of children's books, some over and over. This is by far, the best and my personal favorite. It is written as a poem, and has a funny surprise ending! You and your kids will love it.

3 comments about Olivia's Big Christmas.

1. Great book, my niece Olivia loved it and colored it on Christmas. Book was delivered in good time and in great condition.



2. If you are an Olivia fan, then this is a great companion for your Olivia books.



3. Just to be clear, this is not a storybook, it's a coloring book, complete with crayons attached to the front. I thought that I was carefully reading reviews, but apparently I wasn't. It's a nice coloring book, but if that's not what you're going for, steer clear!

5 comments about Look-Alikes Christmas: The More You Look, the More You See!.

1. My family has owned and LOVED the first book for 4 years now.Our sons (now ages 10 and 8 years) still look at the first book and beg us to play what our family calls "The wacky game"(one person is "IT" and spots something on a page in the book while everyone else has their backs turned , and the challenge is on).When I saw this second book I thought it would be the perfect family Christmas Eve present.Boy was I WRONG!Our whole family was so dissapointed at how unchallenging the pictures where put together.We've look at it for a total of 15 mins and it's sat on the book shelf ever since.
   I must say that we STILL enjoy the first book and it's always under one of the boys's pillows.



2. For those unfamiliar with the Look-Alikes series, creator Joan Steiner makes fascinating scenes using everyday objects--many cleverly hidden! Some people think Look-Alikes involve trick photography, but Steiner assures readers this is not the case. Most of her sets measure four to five feet across, in fact! The painstaking process of the perfectionistic Steiner often takes years. She admits that it took her THREE and a HALF YEARS to complete Look-Alikes Christmas! WOW...that's dedication!
   
   I'm totally intrigued by the Look-Alikes books (we have two), and LOVE trying to spot all of the elements. Look-Alikes are similar to the I SPY books, but don't have the riddles. And, the items aren't so much "concealed" as they are so seemlessly integrated that you don't realize (at first!) what you're looking at! For example, in the Nutcracker scene, one look at Uncle Drosselmeyer's outfit and nothing really stands out. However, upon closer inspection, you realize that the flowing orange lining to his black cape is actually a Dorito!
   
   There are ten lavish sets in the book, each spanning two pages:
   
   *Winter Wonderland - A snowy outdoor scene (The skeleton draped in a bra is bizarre and a poor choice for this scene.)
   
   *The Nutcracker - Dolls come alive in this indoor scene. Look closely--the curtains are made of hair!
   
   *Santa's Workshop - What looks to be a fake nose serves as Mrs. Claus's cap, while orange Circus Peanuts double as elf shoes!
   
   *Grandma's Kitchen - It's obvious that Grandma's apron is a dollar bill, but did you notice that the "spoon" the granchild is using to lick the batter out of the bowl is, in fact, a Q-tip?
   
   *Christmas Windows - Shoppers stroll outdoors, gazing at delightful holiday windows. Women's purses are made up of a lock, a fig newton, a postage stamp, and a packet of pepper. How cool is that?!
   
   *Cathedral - Jellybeans and suckers double as stained glass windows, while vertical bullets (?!) stand in the center of the church.
   
   *Dollhouse - Dental floss as a water closet, a loofah sponge as a hamper, a wooden switch plate as a table top, and a jar of nailpolish as a lamp bottom.
   
   *Toy Train - A loaf of bread does time as a tunnel, while dry spiral pasta makes a neat bow for a present under the tree.
   
   *New year's Eve - A skyscraper made out of a computer keyboard, radiator, and crossword puzzle makes a great background for a bright celebration.
   
   If you love the I SPY or Where's Waldo? books, you'll love the Look-Alikes books by Joan Steiner. I'm partial to the Christmas one, I think, because it was the first one I bought! My 8 year old, a train buff, likes the original because guess what's on the cover? Yep, a train!



3. I had every intention of buying this book for my [...] daughter. BUT when I saw the first page with the "see inside" feature, I was taken aback at the skull and bra. As an opening page??? Not for my young daughter. I'm disappointed, because I like Joan Steiner's books. I would buy it if those two elements were gone.



4. I gave this as a gift.
   The person "loved it"!
   Thank You,
   Jim



5. my daughter loves all the look-alike books. Look-Alike books are not "I Spy" nor "where's Waldo." It is better! Steiner used tons of little everyday items and put them into a theme-scape. Look closely and you see the train tracks are made of pencils, and the snow-capped mountain-tops are covered with white gloves! It invokes young readers' imagination and surprises even the most well-read adults! These well-done photographs teach us to see things differently. We enjoyed going over the pages and tried to identify all the objects. It is a great book to show kids examples of "it is all in the details!"

2 comments about Mrs. Wishy-Washy's Christmas.

1. As a Pre-K teacher my students and I are big fans of Mrs. Wishy Washy. This plot is similar to the original in that she is trying to bathe them so the children can really relate to it. When the animals have a good ole time bathing in Mrs. Washy's bathroom my class can't stop giggling. You can't go wrong with a Mrs. Wishy Washy book in an early childhood classroom.



2. I had never heard of Mrs. Wishy Washy before but saw it on a list of books for purchase from my 3 year old daughter's preschool. We LOVE this book. We've had it about a month now and we read it at least twice per day. And the thing is, I love it too, not just my daughter. The rhymes are great, the pictures are fun and its such a cute story. It's a lot of fun to read out loud. I like this book so much I quickly ordered another Mrs. Wishy Washy book that turned out to be much shorter and not too great. So that was a disappointment, but this book of hers is really fun and children will love it.

5 comments about The Christmas Cat.

1. The Christmas Cat is a delightful and light hearted book. I enjoyed reading the book by one of my favorite authors and it enables me to determine if I would like to read other books by the other authors included in these books. It also provides you with several different story lines so that you can finish the book in one day instead of not knowing the end of the book until later.



2. I originally bought this book to read Lynn Kurland's story, but after I read her story I decided to keep going and read the others. I found ALL the stories to be good reads, especially Jo Beverly's "A Gift of Light". This has given me the opportunity to find other authors that are readable.



3. I bought this book for the Lynn Kurland story. It is wonderful. Miles and Abby are made for each other. I loved it for the time-travel aspect. Lynn knows how to capture the essence of the times she sends her hero's and heroin's back to.

   If you want to carry on reading about Miles and Abby's life together read THE MORE I SEE YOU, it is set about 20yrs. after this story. You won't be dissapointed.




4. Julie Beard - My True Love Gave to Me Anne Clancy looks to be celebrating Christmas alone - not even her black cat Niner is around having been missing these last four days. Hearing what she thinks is his bell, she rushes out in a snowstorm calling for him and is hit by a car. When a most startling blue-eyed gorgeous hunk of man revives her, she assumes it is her neighbors friend who she was to meet that evening - darn but she could have warned her he was drop dead gorgeous! Only it wasn't the neighbor's friend - and it wasn't even Wisconsin, USA 1975 anymore either. She was catapulted back in time and mistaken for this gorgeous hunk of a medieval knight's intended bride. Now what's a modern girl to do? Divine short story with a lovely ending.

   Jo Beverley - A Gift of Light Kitty Mayhew was alone working on a tapestry trying to figure out what was wrong with her mother's cat who was making the strangest sounds and putting her body through some very strange contortions. It was her maid Polly that let her know that the problem was that the cat was in heat and hadn't she heard the `tom cats' making all kinds of racket at night. The very worst of the `tom cats' was a big black one that she found out belonged to a neighbor. Armed with all the dignity she could muster Kitty went to the neighbor insisting they control their `tom' cat from courting her female. What she discovered was a very impudent owner who didn't seem to see that this was as much of a problem as she did. In fact, this rascally `Lord Chatterton' thought that this little spitfire needed to be taught the finer points of courting - human style. Through a ruse using the servants courtship as an excuse, he talked Kitty into the two of them acting as chaperones to find out if the servants budding courtship would last if it didn't have to be kept clandestine and would be brought into the open.

   This was a cute, lovely story with some sweet and sassy dialog. Lord Chatterton was the initiator of trying to teach a lesson in courtship, but it was Kitty who finally taught Tom, Lord Chatterton, what it really meant to let in the `light of the Christmas season' and truly love.

   Barbara Bretton - Home for the Holidays This was a darling story told partly from Sebastian, a Maine Coon cat's perspective and partly from his human owners, Jill and David. It is Christmas Eve and David and Jill are divorcing. Jill and David had been together since college; loving each other thru the hard times then slowly falling apart as David's need to advance his career and make more and more money was more important than spending time with his family. It would take Sebastian, the cat they both loved, on a journey that they could follow - to make David remember that the most important thing he needed was Jill and that they were partners - and that they were once happiest when all they had was a little money but whole lot of love. Sweet story.

   Lynn Kurland - The Gift of Christmas Past I really liked this offering from Lynn Kurland. Sir Sweetums, Abigail Garrett's cat, has been missing, and her life feels as though it has gone down the drain, no job, no cat, no unemployment insurance, and no boyfriend just a couple of days before Christmas - she felt like George Bailey and was ready to jump off a bridge into the river. Well, she didn't exactly jump but she did fall in and when she came up for air she found herself in a cesspool of a moat. Not only a moat, but she was no longer in Wisconsin, but England and it wasn't 1998 anymore but 1238! She dragged herself out of the moat, and made her way to the gate at the top of the drawbridge - only to find a surly man dressed up like a medieval knight holding a sword and he didn't quite know what to make of her either! This was a really darling story with Sir Sweetums, who had passed by his ninth life, and was now a guardian angel cat who had one last human he had to find a suitable mate for. Very nice and romantic as these two people from different times had to come to grips with each other and the truth of who they were! Very humorous as well!




5. Just for those who are looking for a copy of this--it's going to be rereleased as part of Love Came Just in Time very soon . . . and it's not an out-of-print book. I get emails often asking for this book and according to my publisher it's still in print. Don't overpay for something you can still get for a traditional price!

5 comments about The Nutcracker.

1. Susan Jeffers has written and illustrated a lovely book about the Nutcracker ballet, making the story very accessible to younger children. I read this book to my two kids, aged 7 and 5, and it was a very good description of the story that prepared them for seeing a local performance. However, I do not give it 5 stars because Jeffers chose to spend 6 pages, a significant part of this book, depicting the battle between the Nutcracker and the Rat King. This emphasis scared my 5 year old daughter, and she constantly would ask, when we were listening to a CD of Nutcracker music, "When is the Rat King battle?" In contrast, I counted 6 or 7 dances in the Land of Sweets that were depicted on just a two page spread. While it was a nice retelling of the story, just too much valuable space in this book was spent on a part of the ballet that lasts less than 5 minutes. I would have preferred to have seen more of Jeffers' beautiful drawings of the Land of Sweets.



2. This is a wonderful children's recounting of the Nutcracker Ballet. The pictures are wonderfully engaging for children, and the text is succinct enough to be read as a picture book. It is much better than the wordy versions I have seen previously, or those versions that use photographs of the real ballet. The drawings seem to be much more accessible for children than photos. I found Jeffer's version to be fairly representative of the ballet itself. I disagree with those who say that the battle with the mice was too scary - if your kids think the book is scary, they will DEFINITELY think the ballet is scary. And it's not fair to penalize the author for including the 7 headed mouse king - since this is an accurate reflection of most versions of the play. I can appreciate why one reviewer wished there were more scenes of the Land of Treats - however frankly, my kids always felt that was "the boring half" of the Nutrcracker, and I can understand why Jeffers abridged that portion of the story. Personally, my daughter loves this book and it is short enough that it can be comfortably read start to finish at bed time. My only caution is that Jeffers calls the main female character Marie. My kids were more accustomed to the name Clara for the lead girl, so I had to constantly substitute Clara for Marie throughout the whole text.



3. My daughter is 2 years old and she loves this book. What a fabulous introduction to the Nutcracker. We also recorded the ballet on TV during Christmas, and she was able to follow the story exactly with the help of this book. The story is simply written and the illustrations are wonderful. I recommended it to all of my friends!



4. Susan Jeffers does not disappoint!!! From the opening pages to the details she includes about her reasons for writing this, "finally..." appropriately written and illustrated story of the Nutcracker for children of all ages, Jeffers sweeps you into the story with her realistic illustrations and easy, yet inclusive text.
   I've taken 1st graders to see parts of The Nutcracker. Having always prepared them beforehand using books that didn't address the ballet while so many were too thick in text they couldn't possibly be useful for us. This inspirational delivery from Jeffers is a PERFECT fit. I am thrilled to add it to our library, and more thrilled that I can enjoy myself.



5. I thought the illustrations were beautifully done. However, I did not like the variation from the original story, ie, Clara's name was changed to Marie and the mouse king had three heads instead of one. I bought this book for my four year old granddaughter, who very much loved the movie version, but did not like the changes from the original ballet.

No comments about Christmas Cookies: Bite-Size Holiday Lessons.

5 comments about The Light of Christmas.

1. I have a tradition of purchasing a new Christmas book for my two boys each year, which I allow them to open on Christmas Eve to read. This was my book of choice for Christmas 2004, and I was certainly not disappointed. It is the story of a young boy who has a very difficult decision to make, especially for a child. He has to decide between taking part in a Christmas event that he looks forward to every year or listening to his heart and taking care of another important situation that he has come upon. He listens to his heart and is rewarded for it in the end. A story with a wonderful moral to share with your children.



2. This book is amazing. Our family loves it! Our priest read it to the entire parish on Christmas Eve a few years ago -- truly reminds all of us the true meaning of Christmas. You won't be disappointed!



3. Alexander would have never dreamth in his whole life that this day would come. After setting off to Noel to see the lighting of the christmas torch he encounters an old man lying in the snow shivering. Then he stops to help him and he would have never guessed as long as he lived that this day would come.
   
   This story takes place in Noel many years in the past. Alexander really wants to light the christmas torch, but he has to have the best gift, so he just put's the thought of lighting it out of his mind and waits for someone else to light it. Little kids would like this book because it will teach them the true meaning of christmas and they might not grow up to be as selfish as they would have.



4. Richard Paul Evans has written the most wonderful children's books. Your children will enjoy them so much.



5. This is an incredible children's book! It is one of my all-time favorite (top 5)! It is about the 'true gift - the gift of self'. I occasionally give this gift to someone who serves others selflessly. I have also given this book to each of my children and to many close friends. It is a must-have!

3 comments about The Light at Tern Rock (Puffin Newbery Library).

1. "The Light at Tern Rock" is an excellent book to read to your class or have your class read as a trade book during the holiday season. It teaches students to think of others at this time of year and not to always concentrate on themselves. It is suitable for third through fifth graders. It also gives the reader the feeling for living in a lighthouse and what life was like for these people living in desolation. It is an excellent history lesson along with a strong moral lesson. You never tire of the words year after year.



2. This book tells the story of Ronnie and his aunt Martha Morse. The two are tending the lighthouse as volunteers so the official lighthouse tender can spend time with his daughter. They must take care of the Tern Rock Light until December 15. They must dust, clean, and take care of it. But the fifteenth of December comes, and no one is there to pick the two up. Will they have to spend Christmas in an isolated and remote lighthouse?
   In this wonderful book, Ronnie and his aunt learn that Christmas is beautiful anywhere, and the importance of a promise.
   This 1952 Newbery Honor Book is for ages 6-13.



3. This is such a great book for young readers because the detail on every page is exalent.Though in parts of the book it can get confusing but if you try to stick with it you will get it a whole lot better.Believe me this comes from my own experience!!!!!!I would definately recomend this book because dont let its looks diceve you, it may be short but its filled with lots of information!