Strega Nona's Gift by Tomie dePaola

This is a very different Christmas story because it covers all the celebrations from 6th December until 6th January in Calabria. Strega Nona makes food for all the different days - the Feast of San Nicola; the Feast of Santa Lucia; the Feast of San Silvestro and so on. She works hard and keeps Big Anthony busy so nothing can go wrong until the night she bakes special food for all the animals. She asks Big Anthony to take turnips stuffed with greens and ceci (chickpeas) for their goat but something goes badly wrong!

Blurb: In Strega Nona's village, the holiday season is a time of celebrations - and nothing says celebration like a feast! All the kitchens are bustling from the Feast of San Nicola, when the children choose the food, to the Feast of Epiphany, when someone gets to be king or queen for the day. Even the animals share in the holiday spirit, and when Big Anthony smells the delicious treats Strega Nona is cooking for them, he decides that just a taste couldn't hurt, right? Wrong! Big Anthony gets his just desserts, while Strega Nona surprises everyone with a special gift.

Here are all the Strega Nona books. I think you need to read the first one so you understand the characters especially Big Anthony.

Big Anthony and the Magic Ring (1979)

Strega Nona’s Magic Lessons (1982)

Merry Christmas, Strega Nona (1986)

Strega Nona Meets Her Match (1993)

Strega Nona: Her Story (1996)

Big Anthony, His Story (1998)

Strega Nona Takes a Vacation (2000)

Brava, Strega Nona! A Heartwarming Pop-Up Book (2008)

Strega Nona’s Harvest (2009)

Strega Nona Does It Again (2013)

I talked about the wonderful Tomie dePaola in a previous post. In 2023 the US Postal service will issue a stamp in his honour.

This stamp honours prolific children’s book author and illustrator Tomie dePaola (1934-2020), whose extraordinarily varied body of work encompasses folktales and legends, informational books, religious and holiday stories, and touching autobiographical tales. The stamp art features a detail from the cover of “Strega Nona” (1975), the Caldecott Honor winning first book in the series. Set in southern Italy, the gently humorous story focuses on Strega Nona, “Grandma Witch,” who uses magic to help with matters of the heart and to cure her neighbours’ ills. Art director Derry Noyes designed the stamp with Tomie dePaola’s original art. US Postal Service

Here are lots of other Christmas books by Tomie dePaola - it makes me want to start a collection! In 1984 he published a pop-up book which looks terrific but the second hand copies now sell for over $200! Oh and it only has 13 pages. 

This one will be reissued in 2023. 

Christmas Magic by Margaret Wild illustrated by Craig Smith

 

This is another older Christmas book and it is Australian which is great but sadly it is also out of print. I was amazed to find this book. I had not seen this book from 1992 even though by then I had worked in several school libraries for over eight years.  I found this book in a library a couple of weeks ago. It is by two of our most wonderful book people from here in Australia - Margaret Wild and Craig Smith (Black Dog; My Dog's a Scaredy Cat).

Tom and his family used to live on a farm. I love that Margaret Wild does not tell us why they have moved to a city and now live in the suburbs.  With an older child I think after read the opening scene in this book I might be tempted to grab a copy of Farm Kid by Sherryl Clark.

Tom desperately misses the farm where he lived with mum, dad, sister Jess and baby brother Ben. "He especially misses the animals".

Tom is not enthusiastic about Christmas this year. He doesn't want to decorate the tree or help with the cards or mince pies. His sister suggests they dress up and make a nativity. Baby Ben can sit in his pram and take the part of the baby Jesus. But the Nativity story involves animals and Tom just cannot see how they can make a Nativity without cows and horses and sheep and pigs and ducks. Tom's dog, named Dog, tries to help but he is only one dog.

Late that night, on Christmas Eve, Tom and his friend Dog sit beside the window. It is midnight and Tom knows magic can happen at Christmas so he makes a wish. They look outside again and something wonderful happens. The grass grows long and they hear sounds - moo, neigh, baa, oink, quack and cluck. It is a night filled with magic. Tom gathers his sister and brother and the children all sit together on the window ledge. Outside they see the Nativity just as it should be with animals, Mary, Joseph, the baby and the wise me too. You can see this scene on the book cover.  On Christmas Day Tom tells his parents about the magic he and his siblings witnessed last night. Mum and Dad don't believe any of the story but Tom has something wonderful in his pocket (rather like the bell that Harvey Slumfenburger finds in his pocket) - two feathers and a tuft of wool. He plans to keep these forever!

The Snow Angel by Christine Leeson illustrated by Jane Chapman

 

I am a bit behind with my posts this week and with my plan to share twelve books for Christmas. Once again I am sharing a book that is sadly out of print (published in 2006) but you might be lucky and find it in a library. This is a gentle story to share with a young child - it would make a wonderful bedtime story perhaps on Christmas eve. 

There are glitter touches on the cover of this book and also on many pages. The library I visit each week still use date due slips and so I can see this book has been borrowed several times every year at Christmas. I am sure the glitter cover and the huge, beautiful bird and those adoring mice must be the reason.

This is a sweet Christmas story to share with a preschool child. The mice children Daisy and Sam wake up on Christmas morning. The land is covered in snow. Their mother gives them each a parcel of berries and hazelnuts. The young mice decide to save their treats for later because they are keen to get outside and play in the snow. Overhead they see a huge white bird - she looks like an angel. As they watch this beautiful creature falls into the snow. The little mice move closer and they see she is unwell.

"Little mice, can you help me ... My friends and I have flown for days from a land of ice and snow, but last night I lost them in a storm. Now I am so tired and hungry ..."

Stop and think about this. What can these young mice do to help the "angel"? Remember I told you they were saving their Christmas treats.  The beautiful bird is able to eat and rest and eventually she recovers enough to spread her wings and fly away but as she lifts off beautiful white feathers float down onto the little mice. They gather the soft treasures and take them home. Their mother is delighted with the goose feathers that the whole family can now use to line their nest. 

"We'll feel as if we're sleeping in the clouds tonight!".

You can see more books illustrated by Jane Chapman here. In 2016 I talked about another Christmas book by Christine Leeson.

The Gift of Christmas

A Small Miracle by Peter Collington

As this story opens we see an old woman who lives alone in a cold wooden van. Outside the land is covered in deep snow.  She looks in cupboards and boxes for food or coins but all of them are empty so she takes her piano accordion into the town a and sits down in the snow and begins busking on a busy street. 

She sits there all day but makes no money so she is forced to sell the accordion. Walking home she is robbed by a young man. This scene made me gasp.

On her way into the town earlier that day she had passed a church where they were setting up their nativity scene. Walking past again late in the day she sees the thief who took her tin of coins running out the door with the nativity coin collection. She runs at the man and snatches back the coin bucket but inside the church she discovers all of the precious nativity figures are damaged and scattered all over the floor. Carefully, she puts the nativity back together. 

Frail, and hungry and desperate, the old woman collapses in the deep snow on her way home, and lies unconscious. At this point the story shifts and a series of miracles begin. The nativity figures come to life - Mary and her baby along with Joseph and the wise men. Surrounding the old woman, they lift her up, and carry her home, leaving food on the table which they purchase at the supermarket, a fire in the stove, and a very special Christmas gift. Can you guess what it was?

It is thirteen sleeps until Christmas so it is time for me to begin sharing some different, funny, old, new, in print, out of print, and even quirky Christmas books. My book today is old (hardcover 1997 paperback 2011) and out of print but also very very different and poignant and truly special.

A Small Miracle has 96 illustrations. This story will take you on a deeply emotional journey. This is a book to linger over, read slowly, and it is one to cherish every Christmas. I am so happy I have been able to add a copy to my Christmas book collection. 

I picked up A Small Miracle by Peter Collington at a recent charity book sale (you know I have been talking about my treasures from the fair this week) and unbelievably it was only 50 cents! It is in good condition but it does have the name of a child, in tiny print, inside the front and oddly also inside the back cover. I wonder did the volunteers allocate this price because this book has no words!

You can see many of the pages from this book here by Natalia Bragaru on her blog Kids Book Explorer. You could also watch this very beautiful video version with a haunting sound track. 

Take a look at my post about another wordless book (it's an amazing one believe me) by Peter Collington - The Tooth Fairy.

Take Two by J Patrick Lewis and Jane Yolen illustrated by Sophie Blackall

Take Two: A Celebration of Twins

This is another of the books I picked up at a recent charity book sale. As far as I can tell this book, from 2012, is still available and here in Australia. The price seems to range from around $30 up to $50. Luckily my mint condition copy, which I suspect has never even been opened, was just $1. I am excited to gift this to the mum and dad of twin girls.

I previously mentioned this book when I was talking last month about the Sydney visit by Sophie Blackall.

To those of us who are not twins, identical twins are most intriguing. I always wonder if they really have their own language and if they ever pretend to be each other? And then there is just the mere fact, identical, fraternal or sororal, it is interesting to imagine what it must be like to have a womb mate who moves on to be someone closer to you, more genetically like you than anyone else in the world and, if you are lucky, your best friend. Books for your Kids

There are 44 poems in this book organised into four categories - Twins in the waiting Womb; Twinfants; How to be One; and Famous Twins. Here are a couple that caught my eye:

Mirror Twin

I wave, you wave.

I smile, you laugh.

I wink, you blink.

You leave - I'm half.

Double Trouble

We both talk with our mouths full,

An ucky way to speak.

We both forget our lunches

At least two times a week.

We both are slow to get up,

We're late to go to bed.

we always find a reason

To stay awake instead.

There isn't any argument

That both have never tried.

But we protect each other

From anyone outside.

J Patrick Lewis is the author of over 100 books and he is a twin! Jane Yolen has nearly written nearly 400 books and 47 of them are poetry books. I imagine they had fun with their collaboration over this book and how thrilling to have Sophie Blackall as the illustrator. 

Some of these are out of print but here are some other poetry books by Jane Yolen I would like to see:

The Watertower by Gary Crew illustrated by Steven Woolman

 

In 2023 our National Centre for Australian Children's Literature will release a new database of Australian picture books for older readers. I was excited to be part of this project. One of my assigned books was The Watertower.

Here is my annotation for the new database:

The mystery of this town begins on the title page, with both text and illustration that feel other-worldly or alien. Two boys, Bubba and Spike, decide to go for a swim in a mysterious watertower that stands on a hill overlooking a remote outback town. One boy is bold and daring, the other more cautious and vulnerable. It is summer and the heat itself feels almost like an additional character in the story. Bubba is not keen on swimming, so after a short time he leaves Spike. As he climbs out, Bubba discovers his shorts are missing and all he has are his towel and t-shirt. Spike offers to race home. Bubba, now alone at the watertower, is hot and afraid but when Spike returns Bubba is a different boy. What has happened while Spike was away?  

To read this book you physically twist and turn following the illustrations around the tower itself turning the book 360 degrees. There are mysterious pictures of sinister water currents swirling inside the tank. Eyes play a very important role and the townspeople stare into the distance as though they are under some unearthly influence. The broken circle logo on the watertower is also a clue to an alien presence. In this book, more questions are raised than answered. The chilling final words leave room for readers to create their own ending. The illustrations for the Watertower use a combination of chalk and pencil on black paper, and acrylic paint on textured board. The text is simple and intriguing, while the complex illustrations create an eerie atmosphere.

The Watertower was the Australian Children's Book Council Picture Book of the Year in 1995. The Watertower was published in 1994 with the paperback edition in 1999. I picked up a copy at a charity book sale today for just $2. This book is still in print and easily available and it is also sure to be found in most Australian primary school libraries.

Here is the Kirkus review. This review (Lifetime Literacy 2014) gives a very detailed exploration of the plot and it also contains quotes from other reviewers. When you dip into the NCACL database next year you will find other resources to explore for this book. In the meantime take a look at their Verse Novel database - this is a wonderful resource for all teachers and Teacher-Librarians.

I highly recommend The Watertower for senior Primary groups and junior high school. It is a gripping mystery with amazing illustrations by the late Steven Woolman. Here is the sequel:

Here are a couple of other books by Gary Crew that I have shared with my senior primary students:

Cat on the Island

The Letterbox Cat and other poems by Paula Green illustrated by Myles Lawford

This book is a collection of 44 poems including some terrific shape poems which would be perfect to share with a group of younger students. Paula Green comes from New Zealand. 

I picked this book up at a recent charity book sale for just $2. Sadly this book from 2014 is now out of print but I am sure you will find it many school library poetry collections.

The Letterbox Cat

Our cat climbs

on top of the letterbox

as if she's waiting

for a letter from

London

or Luxenbourg

or Levin,

or Sydney

or Samoa

or Berlin,

but all we get is paper

for our recycling bin.

The Rainbow

On a blue day

a rainbow

wraps the sky 

with bright ribbons