Holiday Picks: Just Right for Christmas

With snow in the forecast, temperatures dropping, and people digging out their mittens and hats, it's officially December!  Enjoy a holiday pick each day before Christmas.

Written by Birdie Black.  Illustrated by Rosalind Beardshaw.  Somerville, MA: Nosy Crow, 2011.

This book celebrates homemade gifts, and using what you can find.  On Christmas Eve, the king finds a big roll of beautiful red cloth that is "Christmassy" and "just right" for his daughter.  He commissions a beautiful cloak be made for her.  The scraps of extra cloth are put outside the door, where Jenny, the kitchen maid finds them.  She decides those scraps would be "just right" for a jacket for her ma.  After snipping and sewing, she made a pretty jacket, and put the leftover scraps outside her door.  Bertie Badger comes across the scraps and decides they would be "just right" for a hat for his pa.  After he snips and sews a hat together, he leaves the scraps outside where Samuel Squirrel finds them.  They would be "just right" for a pair of gloves for his wife.  The leftover scrap of fabric flies to the ground where Milly Mouse discovers it while out looking for a nut to give Billy.  But, the little scrap is "just right" for a warm scarf for Billy.  And, on Christmas morning, everyone opens their homemade present which is "so soft and red and Christmassy and felt just right...just how Christmas should feel."  Awww!  This is an adorable book about the love and care that goes into homemade gifts.  It's fun to see how each character uses what they find to create something meaningful for their loved one.  What kinds of homemade crafts will you make this season?

Crafty Chloe

Written by Kelly DiPucchio.  Illustrations by Heather Ross.  New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2012.

Chloe doesn't enjoy sports, video games, or ballet.  What she does enjoy are crafts!  She loves creating things and she's really good at sewing.  While out shopping for a present for her best friend Emma, Chloe comes across the perfect doll for her.  The problem is London, Chloe's unkind classmate, has also purchased the same doll for Emma.  So what can Chloe do?  She decides to make something for Emma.  But what?  The doll was the perfect gift.  After much thinking, Chloe gets some ideas, and works late into the night making something special for her best friend, but she worries whether Emma will like it.  The next day as she is walking to Emma's house, Chloe sees London trip and fall, spilling the doll into the mud.  London's dog decides to play tug of war with the doll's clothes, and it rips.  Chloe shares the present she made for Emma - a beautiful purple dress for her new doll - with London, and the girls enjoy the rest of the party.  Oh, and Emma absolutely loves Chloe's homemade present - a bed for her new doll.

Any child who loves making things will enjoy this book.  It's such a sweet story of being true to yourself and sharing your talents with others.  I adore the illustrations.  They are colorful, and full of expressive details.  One of my favorites is of Chloe's mother, bleary-eyed, looking for coffee filters to make coffee, only to discover Chloe is wearing them on her head, because she used all of them to make a hat.  Children will surely find some craft ideas of their own in this book.  And, if they want to learn how to make the crafts in this book, visit www.craftychloe.com for details.  Share this book with your crafty kids today!