Carol’s Caravan of Christmas Creations (Christmas Books from the Basement) – Day 11

Posted on December 11, 2013 by Carol Early Cooney

Christmas is TWO WEEKS FROM TODAY!

Today’s Christmas story is –

 Morris’s Disappearing Bag

By Rosemary Wells

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Morris is the youngest of four bunnies in his family. On Christmas morning when they each open their gifts, each bunny is excited about what they received. After playing with their own gift for a little while, they start to play with each other’s gifts. Except poor Morris. Since he is the youngest, no one wants to pay with his teddy bear nor do they want him to play with their gifts.  He is very sad. And then he finds one more gift under the tree that changes everything.

Rosemary Wells is a prolific children’s author. She has a series about Max and Ruby but most of her other books feature different characters. Ms. Wells also has an interesting web site. One of the sections, called In the Studio, has sections that talk about her creative process, her inspiration, and her biography. It even includes a video clip of Ms. Wells talking about her youth. There following quote is highlighted on the site.

“Very early on I knew I would be an artist one day.  Drawing and painting was what I loved to do best in the world. Not until I was in my twenties did I think I would be a writer too.  Almost all children with drawing talent discover it early as I did. Most writing talent show up quite late in a person’s growth because you have to read a ton of books to understand how to use the language well and you have to have lived a little bit to have something to tell others.”

And now that I have realized that there are just two weeks until Christmas, I think I will go do something about it.

Thanks for reading!

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Carol’s Caravan of Christmas Creations (Christmas Books from the Basement) – Day 10

Posted on December 10, 2013 by Carol Early Cooney

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Pop the cork! A new day has brought a new choice!

Madeline’s Christmas

By Ludwig Bemelmans

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The Madeline series is another childhood series that has been expanded over the years from books to a video series. In case you missed it, Madeline is a little girl who lives in a boarding school in Paris.

“In an old house in Paris

That was covered with vines

Lived twelve little girls

In two straight lines

They left the house a half-past nine

In two straight lines, in rain or shine.

The smallest one was MADELINE.”

 In this adventure (written in rhymes), Madeline is the only one in the house that is well. Everyone, even Miss Clavel, have taken to their beds sick. A rug merchant comes to the door to sell his wares. Madeline gets Miss Clavel to agree to buy the rug merchant’s last twelve rugs to put by the little girls beds to keep their feet warm.  The rug merchant then finds that he is very cold without his rugs and decides to go back to get them. He is frozen when he arrives back to ask for them. Madeline nurses him back to health. Then the Christmas surprise happens.

Thanks for reading! 

 

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Carol’s Caravan of Christmas Creations (Christmas Books from the Basement) – Day 9

Posted on December 9, 2013 by Carol Early Cooney

 

The winner, winner chicken dinner today is –

Clifford’s Christmas

By Norman Bridwell

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In case you have been living under a rock, Clifford is a big red dog. The first book in the series was Clifford the Big Red Dog and it was published in 1963.  Clifford is popular in board books, paperback books, videos, and he even has a balloon in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade.

In this adventure, Clifford and his owner, Emily Elizabeth, get ready for Christmas. When Santa arrives at Clifford’s giant dog house, he has trouble finding the chimney and he falls off the roof and into Clifford’s stocking. Clifford saves the day by getting Santa out of the stocking and back on his way delivering presents.

Norman Bridwell is the author of the Clifford series. Bridwell tells in his biography that he was never really very good at anything. He loved to draw but was never seen as the best in the class. He decided to pursue his dream and became a commercial artist. After the birth of his daughter, Emily Elizabeth, he thought he would try and supplement his income by illustrating books. He put together a portfolio and went to the New York publishing houses. He was told repeatedly that he they didn’t think that he was good enough to illustrate books. The editor at Harper & Row did suggest that there might be a story in one of his sketches.  He took up her suggestion and within three weeks he had written, illustrated, and his book had been accepted by Scholastic for publication. There are now over 126 million Clifford books in print.

Thanks for reading!

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Carol’s Caravan of Christmas Creations (Christmas Books from the Basement) – Day 8

Posted on December 8, 2013 by Carol Early Cooney

The selection du jour –

Christmas in Noisy Village

By Astrid Lindgren and Ilon Wikland

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(Just between you and I, the concept of writing about one of these books each day was appealing to me.  The first reason is that it gets me to write (a completed piece) each day.  The second was that revisiting the books sounded like fun. Now that reality has hit, some of these books are much more interesting than others. But I made a commitment and I am sticking to it. I am learning new things and hopefully you are also.)

It was with some trepidation that I looked at today’s book. “What am I going to say about this book?” I sat down and read it. It is a cute story about three families that live in three houses that are close together. Because of the number of children (there are 7 children between the three households) it is called Noisy Village.  The story tells of the Christmas rituals celebrated by these Swedish families.

Since I am not terribly (i.e. not at all) familiar with how Christmas is celebrated in Sweden, I don’t know that this is an accurate portrayal. I don’t have any reason to think that it isn’t but before I say anything I do like to know that I am being accurate. So, I could research Christmas traditions in Sweden and tell you about them. The trouble is that I wasn’t that charged up to do that research.

So what would be next? Hmmm… Astrid Lindgren wrote the famous Pippi Longstocking books.  I remember the books and I think that I liked them. I also remember seeing the Swedish film of the story. It was one of those Saturday afternoon movies. It was HORRIBLE. (I know that we all have different tastes but really, it was bad. It was actually the sort of movie that would have a cult following because it was so bad.)  But perhaps I should move past my feeling of the movie and check out Astrid Lindgren.

BINGO!

“There’s nothing in the Ten Commandments forbidding old ladies to climb trees, is there? “

I found her web site. Yes, she has been dead since 2002 but she has a web site. She is obviously a WELL LOVED author in Sweden. Okay and here is the thing, her web site is really cool. It is one of the better web sites that I have seen lately. You can go on a virtual tour of her apartment that is a better than average virtual tour. You can see her family tree (and it is in the shape of a tree) and you can read a letter from her daughter about her. It is enough (almost!) to get you to read the Pippi Longstocking  books. I suggest that you go check it out –  http://www.astridlindgren.se/en.

And how can you not want to know more about a woman who has this as her picture:

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I want to be Astrid Lindgren when I grow up.  She looks like she was fun.

Thanks for reading!~

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Carol’s Caravan of Christmas Creations (Christmas Books from the Basement) – Day 7

Posted on December 7, 2013 by Carol Early Cooney

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The pick of the day –

Auntie Claus

By Elise Primavera

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“The Kringle family lived high atop the luxurious Bing Cherry Hotel in New York City and they loved Christmas.

They kept a Christmas tree up all year round. Mr. Kringle was president of the renowned Jungle Bell Bell Company. Mrs. Kringle owned the fabulous Mistle-Toe-to-Nail Salon over on 56th and Fifth. They even named their young son after you –know-who.”

Thus starts the book Auntie Claus. This is the story of the daughter (Sophie) in the Kringle family and her relationship with Auntie Clause. Auntie Clause also lives in the Bing Cherry Hotel. The whole Kringle family loves Christmas but Auntie Claus loves it the most.

Mysteriously, Auntie Claus goes on a business trip each year right after Halloween and comes back at Valentine ’s Day. One year Sophie decides that she has to find out about the “business trip.” The things that she finds out and the lessons that she learns by stowing away in Auntie Claus’s luggage will change her forever.

It is a very cute story and the bright bold illustrations are perfect for a children’s story. There are three Auntie Claus books. They are Auntie Claus, Auntie Claus and the Key to Christmas and Auntie Claus Home for the Holidays. 

Thanks for reading!

 

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