This is a time for Hope and Celebration - Light in the darkness, Wonder and magic.
Classic Christmas Books by Dickens and Dylan Thomas
"The language around Christmas is usually pretty treacly, as befits the season. But future writers should remember that one of the amazing things about the holiday’s ur-text, Charles Dickens’s 1843 novella, “A Christmas Carol,” is that it’s pretty grim, that is to say realistic, when it comes to depicting Scrooge’s past and Tiny Tim’s present. Without Dickens’s eye and ear for extreme emotional and fiscal predicaments, the story’s more fantastic moments wouldn’t have the weight of truth. It is that balance—between emotional forthrightness and plain good old-fashioned invention—that makes Dylan Thomas’s “A Child’s Christmas in Wales”. . .an enduring work, too.
Thomas’s piece, a forty-five-minute prose poem, sounds like a cello when read aloud, deep and playful. Cobbled together from earlier writings, Thomas’s reminiscence about his post-First World War childhood in Wales—when “all the Christmases roll down toward the two-tongued sea”—has the value of lived experience, and humor. Encouraged, in 1952, by two women producers to record it, Thomas arrived unprepared and apparently overserved in the liquor department for the session, but it’s his voice that we still associate with the work. The recording sold modestly at first; the book, published posthumously in 1954, went on to become his most popular work in America." Hilton Als, New Yorker
The top illustration by John Leech is of Bob Cratchit and Tiny Tim from Charles Dicken's Christmas Carol.
The next illustration, also by John Leech is of Scrooge and the third ghost from A Christmas Carol.
Artist unknown for A Child's Christmas in Wales.
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Here is a link to YouTube where you can hear Dylan Thomas reading the original Child's Christmas in Wales
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Transforming Christmas
'It was Charles Dicken's's A Christmas Carol that transformed Christmas, first in Victorian England as the industrial age was barreling ahead, and then throughout Europe and beyond. Dicken's's notion that the true Christmas spirit embodied caring and generosity, especially for those less fortunate, influenced the thinking of multitudes and transformed the holiday.
While Christmas Day had always been a sacred, solemn feast day within the Christian faith (just as the Winter Solstice had been in many pagan cultures before it), it wasn’t until the middle part of the 1800s that many began to see it less as a site of religious devotion than as a holiday to be celebrated, and to be celebrated most specifically through the act of giving.
"While A Christmas Carol didn’t spawn this tradition itself, it, more than any other force, popularized it throughout the western world. Through its powerful, secular story of redemption through charity and love, Dickens imparted to all that Christmas was a time to celebrate all that was worthwhile about the human race, most specifically our love for one another, and our compassion for those less fortunate." -Jonathan Morris, The Antiscribe
A Christmas Carol (1843) was written with the passion born of hard experience.
Charles Dickens had a painful childhood as an impoverished 12 year old boy from a broken family. With his father in debtor's prison, Dickens was forced to leave school and work ten-hour days for six shillings a week under harsh conditions in England's new industrial economy. Children could be found across the country working in mills, factories, and coal mines—transforming Europe into the continent we know today.
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Redemption for Scrooge
"I don't know what to do.' cried Scrooge, laughing and crying in the same breath; and making a perfect Laocoon of himself with his stockings. `I am as light as a feather, I am as happy as an angel, I am as merry as a schoolboy. I am as giddy as a drunken man. A merry Christmas to everybody. A happy New Year to all the world. Hallo here. Whoop. Hallo.' "--
A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens
Photo of Scrooge (Bruce Cromer) celebrating is from Cincinnati Playhouse production of a Christmas Carol musical. Photo by Mikki Schaffner,
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The Legend of Santa Claus
The legend of Santa Claus, himself, was greatly enhanced by the poem A Visit from St Nicholas, written for his children, by the American, Clement Clarke Moore, in 1823.
Images by great illustrators have also deeply influenced perceptions of Santa and Christmas. This is especially true for children. However, significant impressions in the minds of adults were also made by the Dickens illustrations of John Leech (and later by Arthur Rackham) in Great Britain, and the yearly illustrations by Thomas Nast of A Visit From St Nicholas in the USA.
With the passing of time, the spirit of Christmas has changed. The idea of gifts for children, and then others, has evolved with stories, TV, films, merchants, and ceaseless marketing into an often overwhelming distortion of the original spirit of A Christmas Carol.
But the spirit of Christmas does live on.
Illustration by Tomas Nast.
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Joy to the World from
the Planet Of The Dogs
Photo of his dogs, Darcy and Caboose, courtesy of Richard Bradley (A Rock In My Shoe).
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Kwanzaa
"Unlike Christmas and Hanukkah, Kwanzaa was not born out of religion. Instead it is a largely social and communal holiday that grew out of the civil rights movement. Established by professor and activist Maulana Karenga in 1966, Kwanzaa was meant as a way to bring the African-American community together once a year for a celebration of its culture and heritage. Over the years, the exclusive nature of Kwanzaa was stripped away by Karenga, and it is now looked at as a chance for people of all races and backgrounds to celebrate African culture the same way we celebrate Irish and Mexican culture on St. Patrick’s Day and Cinco de Mayo."
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For Children, The Christmas Spirit lives On In Animals
The Tailor of Gloucester -- A Christmas Tale
By Beatrix Potter
Talking animals and their involvement in the lives of people have always been part of the great tradition of wonder stories.The Tailor of Gloucester, Beatrix Potter's classic Christmas tale, revolves around many mice; Shimpkin, the cat; and a sick and impoverished tailor who is kind to trapped mice. The tailor faces disaster in the early pages of the book. He is ill and will not be able to meet a deadline and finish a splendid coat for the mayor. But then, on Christmas Eve, a turning point comes -- in the form of compassionate mice.
The amazing Beatrix Potter illustrated all of her books.
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Animals Celebrate In Myriad Ways
I started to make a list. . .
Mr Dog's Christmas at the Hollow Tree Inn, a classic 19th century Christmas tale; Babar, the elephants, and Father Christmas; Winnie the Pooh and all his friends; Mr Toad, Mole. Badger, Water Rat, and all the wonderful creatures of the Wind In the Willows; Huckle the Cat and all his friends in Busytown; and, of course, Santas' Reindeer.
The list continues, but I must finish this before the holidays.
Illustration by Jean de Brunhoff.
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New Collection of Wonder Tales Retold by a Storyteller
Haunting and Hilarious Fairy Tales
I first heard Jack Zipes tell a wonder story on You Tube about 20 year ago. He was captivating. He has now rewritten a delightful book in the voice of the storyteller. Read them out loud and you will see what I mean. They began in written form as Norse Tales, and Fairy Tales by the Grimms. The book has incredible illustrations by Rolf Brandt (who wrote the first version).
Photo by Kelly MacWiliams, UMN News
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From Australia
We are happy to report that Why Am I by Ari Wulff is being read and enjoyed in Australia.
A Delightful Children's Book! Reviewed in Australia by Elrond on 17 November 2022. "This book is a delight. Wonderfully illustrated and beautifully written it contains a very important message. A message about self esteem, self worth and self discovery. The little yellow dog makes a journey into the world to discover why he is yellow and learns that all of us are different and that being different should be celebrated. I would recommend this book wholeheartedly."
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Christmas in Ukraine
On 12 April 2022, UNICEF stated that 4.8 million of Ukraine’s 7.5 million children were displaced, with 2 million having left the country. Of those, an estimated 1.9 million are of school age.
Imagine that in our country.
We send hope, to all the refugees, wherever they are.
Photo by Enrico Morenatti AP
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Free Books for Mothers of Infants That Open the Doors to More Books
Reading and talking to infants has proved to be vital to the development of infants and to their future. The following is an excerpt from the Yeager Foundation website.
"If you would like one of our printed children's books titled Mommy Talk, Talk to Me, or Let’s Talk send your name and address to Doug Yeager at [email protected] and specify which you are requesting. Mommy Talk, Talk to Me, and Let’s Talk are available in English or in Spanish. Single copies are free to individuals and quantities are free to nonprofits, schools, public agencies, libraries, pediatricians, and pediatric clinics and hospitals. We have distributed more than 115,000 copies free of charge."
Giving Books In The Christmas Spirit.
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“One can never have enough socks,” said Dumbledore. “Another Christmas has come and gone and I didn’t get a single pair. People insist on giving me books.” Dumbledore in the Socerer's Stone.
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Santa tells the true story and clears up the confusion in this Interview with Santa.
Interviewer: Thanks for taking the time to answer our questions and clarifying things.
Santa: I’m happy that the story is finally coming out.
Interviewer: Is it a true story?
Santa: Absolutely.
Interviewer: Why haven’t we known about it before?
Santa: I think it was lost in the mists of time…It took place hundreds and hundreds of years ago.
Interviewer: Is it true that there was to be no more Christmas?
Santa: I’m sorry to say that it’s true. Until the dogs arrived.
Interviewer: The dogs?
Here is a link to the rest of this brief Interview
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Snow Valley Heroes, A Christmas Tale
"What a truly wonderful and unique Christmas story for the whole family.
Snow Valley Heroes by Robert J. McCarty and illustrated by Stella Mustanoja McCarty is the third offering in the series; "Planet of the Dogs." What an imagination this team has! . . .While I grant you that this story is pure fantasy, it is logical fantasy and uses the story of Santa, his elves, real people, and of course the dogs of Planet of the Dogs . . . an ideal book to snuggle up with the little ones on a cold winter night and simply enjoy."
Don Blankenship, editor/reviewer, Good Books For Kids, Top 50 Amazon Reviewer
The illustration is by Stella Mustanoja McCarty.
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"To err is human, to forgive, canine"-- Anonymous
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