Tea & A Good Book Brewing- Installment 44, Two Christmas Books for Children
For this book review, I enlisted the help of one of my in-house experts: my soon-to-turn-eight-years-old daughter!
It wasn't a difficult assignment: I just asked Elasa which Christmas book, from the small stack I lugged home from the library, she liked best, and without hesitation she brought me this one:
The Christmas Tugboat, by George Matteson and Adele Ursone and with paintings by James E. Ransome.
I had my own hesitations since the story is about how a tugboat helps to bring the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree to New York City, and we don't even do Christmas trees, but the story is so appealing from several other aspects that I thought it was worthy of mention!
For starters, Christmas aside, this is a really fascinating book about tugboats and a lot can be learned from the viewpoint of the narrator, who is a child!
Secondly, it is a really neat family story, since the girl's father is a New York Harbor tugboat captain, and he takes his wife and daughter with him on this special adventure to pick up the barge carrying the Christmas tree.
Thirdly, the paintings in this book are fantastic and do justice not only to the tugboat and scenery on the Hudson River, but also to some of the famous New York City landmarks, such as the Statue of Liberty and the Manhattan Bridge.
Shall I add that another perk is that the story is rather lengthy? And that this may appeal to slightly older children? When Gavin saw that the book was on my desk, he seconded that he liked the book as well! There's a strong two votes out of two, and that can be hard consensus to get out of my two oldest regarding the same book!!!
Interestingly enough, the story is true and written by the tugboat captain and his wife about their real adventure, along with their daughter, to do the very thing the story tells us about.
And now for a children's book on the more reverent side of things..
Mary Did You Know? by Mark Lowry and illustrated by Phil Boatwright is a book that I found through a search for the song by that name, which is a favorite of mine.
The book is beautifully done, and basically puts some very nice pictures to the words by Mark Lowry, making for a nice read-aloud for children.
It wasn't a difficult assignment: I just asked Elasa which Christmas book, from the small stack I lugged home from the library, she liked best, and without hesitation she brought me this one:
The Christmas Tugboat, by George Matteson and Adele Ursone and with paintings by James E. Ransome.
I had my own hesitations since the story is about how a tugboat helps to bring the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree to New York City, and we don't even do Christmas trees, but the story is so appealing from several other aspects that I thought it was worthy of mention!
For starters, Christmas aside, this is a really fascinating book about tugboats and a lot can be learned from the viewpoint of the narrator, who is a child!
Secondly, it is a really neat family story, since the girl's father is a New York Harbor tugboat captain, and he takes his wife and daughter with him on this special adventure to pick up the barge carrying the Christmas tree.
Thirdly, the paintings in this book are fantastic and do justice not only to the tugboat and scenery on the Hudson River, but also to some of the famous New York City landmarks, such as the Statue of Liberty and the Manhattan Bridge.
Shall I add that another perk is that the story is rather lengthy? And that this may appeal to slightly older children? When Gavin saw that the book was on my desk, he seconded that he liked the book as well! There's a strong two votes out of two, and that can be hard consensus to get out of my two oldest regarding the same book!!!
Interestingly enough, the story is true and written by the tugboat captain and his wife about their real adventure, along with their daughter, to do the very thing the story tells us about.
And now for a children's book on the more reverent side of things..
Mary Did You Know? by Mark Lowry and illustrated by Phil Boatwright is a book that I found through a search for the song by that name, which is a favorite of mine.
The book is beautifully done, and basically puts some very nice pictures to the words by Mark Lowry, making for a nice read-aloud for children.
"Mary, did you know
that your baby boy
will one day walk on water?
Did you know
that your baby boy
has walked where angels trod?
When you kiss
your little baby
you've kissed the face of God."
Christmas is a time when we celebrate the incarnate becoming carnate, and the questions in this book, directed to Jesus' mother, are a special way of reminding us of that.
If you would like to see a few more of my favorites when it comes to children's Christmas books, you can check out this post from last year!
One of the best ways to hold the wonder of this special season is to see it through the eyes of a child, and it's my humble opinion that it doesn't get much better than peering into the pages of some good children's books.
Sometimes it's pretty amazing what you'll see peering back at you.
One of the best ways to hold the wonder of this special season is to see it through the eyes of a child, and it's my humble opinion that it doesn't get much better than peering into the pages of some good children's books.
Sometimes it's pretty amazing what you'll see peering back at you.
Comments
Post a Comment