Christmas Books

Beautiful story and illustrations. Very moving- parents, remember to bring your kleenex! Could be a wonderful springboard into discussing personal experiences of God with young children, and persistence of faith. Also could incorporate into an open-minded discussion of Christianity and animals/pets (God's love for them and creation). I'm buying a copy for the children I don't even have yet! :)

From Publishers Weekly, February 23rd 2004 "Speirs's luxurious, gilt- accented paintings are an art aficionado's dream... Focusing on the religiously symbolic beast of burden, Gill Speirs opens the door to an inventive interpretation of Scripture... The elegant compositions consistently delight, depicting biblical events in Netherlandish style inspired chiefly by Pieter Bruegel the Elder."

Featuring the museum quality paintings of John Speirs, The Donkey And The Golden Light is a beautifully illustrated picture book by Gill Speirs about a young donkey named Bethlehem and the interaction he has with Jesus beginning the Messiah's birth and proceeding through the flight into Egypt, the baptism by John, the wedding feast at Cana, the events of the Last Supper, and finally with the Jesus' crucifixion at the hands of the Roman authorities. The breathtaking full-color, full-page artworks are of especial note, as they are inspired by classic paintings Pieter Bruegel the Elder. A moving and visually stunning story, The Donkey And The Golden Light would be a welcome popular addition to any picture book collection.

Beautiful book, all in Spanish, just like I wanted. Great story and in great shape.

It made me feel tingly inside. Do you believe in Santa? It's a great book for all ages. After reading it to my daughter at bedtime, I had to read it again to my husband. We both really enjoyed the story as well as the beautiful illustrations (which, by the way, won an award). It is a truly a book which should be read every Christmas Eve.

This book is great to read to your kids. The illustrations are beautiful. The story is full of Christmas magic. Your kids will love it!

My 2 year old son loves all the Elliot Moose and friend's stories (since we started reading them to him when he was a few months old). He loves to have us read them to him over and over. Recently, he started "reading" them to us! Elliot is such a loving character, that has fun adventures with his friends. These books also have wonderful illustrations we use to teach our son, and have him point out things he knows and learn new words.

"Elliot's Christmas Surprise" is another wonderful release in the "Elliot Moose" book series.

In this one, Elliot is thrilled to receive what she believes to be a surprise gift, but disappointed that her friends haven't received any. She's inspired to make some for them.

The illustrations are soft, safe, cuddly and Christmasy. The characters look like stuffed animals and are wonderful anthropomorphic models. This is an underappreciated series from Kids Can Press that could definitely use some more love.

Charmingly written and illustrated by Andrea Beck, Elliot's Christmas Surprise is a thoroughly delightful holiday picture book about Elliott, a young moose who finds a gigantic red box near his bed on Christmas Eve morning. When Elliott learns that no one else received an early present, he sets to making special gifts for all his friends. The friendly and cheerful color pictures add a particular sparkle of Christmas spirit to this magical story of sharing and happiness.

I would like to say that the CD on this book is exceptional. Especially the young woman who sings the role of Elphina-- what a voice! She has quite a future ahead of her.
A neighbor's son will not go to sleep- even in July- without hearing this delightful CD and its accompanying story.
Buy it now!

This is a book about a little girl who shows everyone that she can do anything the boys can do if they just give her a chance! It's a great story for little ones at Christmas time and all year through. My 3 year old daughter loves this book and the music that comes with it is a special treat! The author has a way of rhyming the words so they keep a 3 year olds attention. Highly recommend this one!

I will not review this book because I am 37 years old. But I will describe my six year old daughters response to it...FABULOUS...She asked to be read this book at least twice a week until she learned to read. After that she read it herself. The book teaches that girls (and women) can achieve what they set out to do even in a male dominated society. It is inspirational and beautifully illustrated. The included CD has songs that my daughter loved to hear over and over again but did not grate on my nerves like Barney.

I strongly recommend this book to all who have children.

This wonderful book is full of beautiful artwork and a heartwarming tale of giving. A perfect book for young readers' Christmas story time, even toddlers enjoy the colorful pages and important message. A great addition to any home, school, or church library! This book is bound to become a Christmas favorite for you, as it has for our family.

The characters are adorable and the story is charming. A perfect holiday gift for a young reader!

This is a gem.

Parents won't mind reading such a charming little story over and over. This is important, because this is the kind of book that children will ask for as long as they want to be read to. Even very young children will enjoy the vivid colors of the amusing illustrations splash across the page. The ending gives you pleasurable goosebumps because it's so good.

I honestly wouldn't let another Christmas go by without letting your children enjoy this book.

More than any other known source, this series of essays (including the other two companion volumes) have probably done the most to put Zen 'on the map' - in the Western world. In some quarters - at least, it has become fashionable to regard D.T. Suzuki as 'passe' - a bridge builder, whose work has now reached its 'sell-by' date. While I can see why some people might feel that way - if training with a Roshi, or tired of 'reading too much' - Suzuki's 'essays' continue to have relevance for people making their first dip into the world of Zen.

In one sense, you could say that Suzuki wants to say too much, and the 'purists' may fault him for it. But he was good at his job - and knew exactly how to write about such things for a Western audience, saying enough to entice them and whet their appetite, then drop them in at the deep end! His way of doing this was lively and engaging. Suzuki was a good communicator (he had an American wife, which certainly helped. Beatrice Lane Suzuki was an accomplished student of Buddhism in her own right) - and, in some respects, Suzuki was more successful than some of the roshis teaching in the West. He wasn't trying to sell you an institution, but pointing to the 'treasure house' we must all find, for ourselves.

One thing is worth noting about Suzuki's 'essays.' For the most part, the anecdotes he has presented were taken from the T'ang masters in the Dentoroku (Chuan Teng Lu). You get a pretty fair spread of teaching-examples, and they are not all from masters in the Rinzai (Lin-chi) lineage. In the T'ang, there was no such sharp division between the Zen schools and in that sense, Suzuki's account has a freshness about it.

Suzuki will not bog you down with laboured academic digressions. He was rather slap-dash about footnotes - and as such, you get the very 'marrow' of Zen teaching. Suzuki had his foibles - but, he remains the 'grand old man of Zen' who whetted our appetite. These essays have life in them yet! Digest Suzuki. You wont regret it!

Suzuki's works offer a clear insight look at the often misunderstood world of zen. Suzuki gives the reader the ability to understand zen, rather than dictating what zen is. This work would be of benefit to any one wishing to see if zen is 'right' for them

Ok I don't know what en is but I love this book! You can't talk about Zen without talking about Suzuki. The man was responsible for bringing East to West. In all my many spins I have never been able to find someone who can describe an undescribable thing like Zen better than Suzuki. In terms of quality this book is definatly three pounds of flax.

This book is wonderful! Full of stories and delicious recipes. I have the book, and it is one of my treasures!

THE EVE OF SEVEN FISHES

Life is funny. Once upon a time I set out to write FEAST OF THE SEVEN FISHES - a story set against the backdrop of an Italian-American family cooking the Christmas Eve seafood feast. Much of the inspiration for writing the story, in addition to my wonderful childhood memories of my family dinners, came from my first Christmas Eve with my wife Shannon - who was then my girlfriend. That was a very special time - the first time I ever told her I loved her. Now, like I said, life is funny. Robert Germano is someone I've known for years. But unbeknownst to me, at the same time I was writing my book, Robert was doing the same, albeit in a different fashion. Not a fictional book - but a cookbook dedicated to his family's take on the Feast. More with the funniness: it was Robert who played matchmaker and introduced me to Shannon. Shannon who wrote the cookbook portion of my Feast book. Did I mention life is funny?

So obviously I owe the man, which I disclose freely. You can stop reading now if you're worried my review will be in some way tainted.

Okay, for those of you who have faith in my impartiality and general integrity here's the skinny on Robert's book:

If you like those slick, smug cookbooks put out by celebrity chefs and snobby foodies move along. You don't want to come to Robert's dinner party. However, if you enjoy someone who very simply and lovingly bares their soul through their actions and obvious affections, sit down and pour a glass of chianti. On the surface THE EVE OF SEVEN FISHES is a collection of recipes for the Feast as practiced by folks from the Molise region of Italy. But it's more than that. Reading both the text and between the lines you experience one man's plaintive plea to re-connect - not only with his immediate family and childhood and holiday memories - but with a more ancient past. Robert Germano wasn't content to simply scribble down what his mom and aunts and so on had to say. No, Robert got on a plane and went to Italy to get things straight from the source. I think it blew his mind.

When I did Feast one of my main motivations was to capture the moment where we're on the verge of losing our ethnicity as Italian-Americans - that was part of the story in a sense. Robert, however, refuses to surrender. He's passionate about preserving and celebrating these culinary traditions. He does it in the voice of your dad, your uncle or your next door neighbor. He's not trying to impress you - he's too desperate for that. Desperate to try and preserve something that is beautiful and delicious and real.

If that's not reason enough to buy the book I don't know what to tell you (actually, I'd buy it just for the pasta with anchovies - but maybe that's just me).

I have yet to see the actual book but being a long time friend of Robert's, I had the opportunity to review his final draft while back in the "Burg" this past July. A great christmas gift for everyone,,,, even if you are not Italian! This book made my Christmas shopping a cake-walk this year! Janet Lee Knizner-Enders

Great service from the seller. African version of the Christmas Story. An africian-american coworker initially was offended by what she thought was a "white" attempt to make the story sound "black". When she read the introduction and realized the history and research that went into this story she recognized it as part of her "roots" that she was excited to pass on to her own children.

I first purchased this book 14 years ago for my nephew, and I'm back to purchase it for my daughter. It is such a gorgeously written version of the birth of Christ. It's just so lovely and heartfelt. I can't say enough good things about it. It became part of my sister's Christmas tradition with her children, and now it will become part of mine. I'm so glad I found this book again!

I grew up hearing this book (written by my great-grandfather) every christmas morning. It has become a tradition, all of the kids sitting at the feet of our mother as she read the story, her voice flowing over the melody of the words. Often we wouldn't understand a phrase, but she would explain it how her mother had explained it and how the author himself had lovingly explained it to his daughter, my grandmother. Not everyone who has read this book will have the experience I have had in reading it, but all the same, it touches the heart of everyone who has heard it read.

Each year, I purchase new Christmas books for our home collection, my now adult children and the children of friends. By far, the all time family favorite Christmas book is Leon Garfield's Fair is Fair. It is the one most frequently chosen for reading aloud on Christmas Eve. This year, I was delighted to find additional copies of the book which I had first purchased in 1986. Now each of children have their own copies in their own homes.

I remember reading this book to my much younger brother, he absolutely loved it and would check it out of the library at every opportunity. It is truly a wonderful children's book, and I am amazed that it is out of print. If you get the opportunity to read it, do so! Your children will love it, and so will you.

I can't believe this book is out-of-print! It has all the right ingredients for a really lovely Christmas story: orphans, a dog, and a wonderful ending. I had to make a decided effort to obtain this book, but my search was well-rewarded. However, my desire to purchase it as a special Christmas gift for three children who love Leon Garfield's other work will not be satisfied...'tis unluckily out-of-print! Very un-fair!

I found this book to be very heartwarming and a great read. There were times when I laughed and times when I had tears in my eyes. This is the type of book I love to read, one where the characters come to life and you feel everything they are feeling.

This book will capture the hearts of all those who read it. You will begin to feel as though you are a part of the characters lives. You will be hoping for a lasting romance between Julia and Tony. You will want the best for Rachel and for Julia's mother. This book is definitly a fast paced romance novel, with a whole lot of romance.

This book will capture the hearts of all those who read it. You will begin to feel as though you are a part of the characters lives. You will be hoping for a lasting romance between Julia and Tony. You will want the best for Rachel and for Julia's mother. This book is definitly a fast paced romance novel, with a whole lot of romance.