I have a second post today HERE, sharing a book giveaway as part of a blog tour! Come visit!
In this busy month, I wish you joy with family and friends and cozy times with a good book, wherever you are, whatever you celebrate.
Thanks to Candlewick for these two beautiful Christmas books.
It is a story of a homeless boy who discovers he can have his own Christmas tree. What he does with it and then the community shows a generous child making his own cheer in a sad situation. The illustrations are lovely and nostalgic with many snowy city scenes.
It's a beautiful lift-the-flap exploration of nature as little tree realizes it is not so alone as it thinks. Each page holds several flaps and the words tease readers to find what's being said by lifting the flaps. Some of nature's things are visible, but others hide, and in clever places, too. Where is the "brilliant goldfinch (that) sings?" and where is the field mouse "who needs a place to hide"? It's a great book to introduce come of the wonders of nature.
In brief poetic text, Suzanne Slade's shows the vision of President John Kennedy's challenge to go to the moon, covering the facts, the dangers, the community effort to complete the missions. She explains that it became even more imperative to finish what was started after the assassination of President Kennedy. After each mission, there are pages that show the basic facts and a picture of each astronaut. I noted that few are still living today. Throughout, real photos are there, along with Thomas Gonzalez' paintings that capture the action, the people, the places that until these space flights, no one had ever seen them before. They are stunning depictions of this marvelous history. It is a book to read, to savor, to then look again, being sure not to miss a thing. The backmatter adds more information, author's and illustrator's notes, a bibliography, source list for quotations and photo credits.
Thank you to Candlewick Press for this wonderful new gallery of five stories from Katherine Rundell. It will serve as a marvelous introduction to Mowgli and his growing up as he learns about the wise jungle animals that have become his family. Here again, we meet and learn the stories of Bagheera, Kaa, Baloo, Shere Khan, and others. Katherine Rundell’s books are favorites of mine as well as Kipling's stories, and I enjoyed her clever glimpse into the background stories of a few characters. Illustrations by Kristjana William's are fabulous in showing vivid jungle scenes. An underlying theme is the cooperation among all the jungle creatures, borne out in the final challenge to save two small tiger cubs. Strength comes in learning others' languages, working together to achieve a goal that wouldn't have happened otherwise and equality among all the cultures. 
Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne was the first read-aloud I ever read to my first class, a group of first graders. And I read it to my own children, then parts of it to middle-schoolers! Yes, even older kids enjoy the love and friendship in the stories, can find themselves in those endearing characters. Now Lindsay Mattick has expanded her story of Winnie from the earlier picture book and tells more by telling it to her son, Cole. He was named for his great-grandfather, Harry Colebourn, who bought this bear at a train station as he made his way to England, then to serve as a veterinarian for the horses serving in World War I. It is quite a story of love, despite the hardships, despite the sorrow, Winnipeg, becoming Winnie, won soldiers' hearts and then those visitors of the London Zoo where he waited for Harry to return, first for visits, then for good! He didn't get to stay with Harry but remained at the Zoo where a chance visit by a little boy and his father ended in another story also about friendship and love, Winnie-the-Pooh. Don't miss the extra notes and pictures at the back. I enjoyed the book very much.