The day before Christmas, everyone in Jose’s neighborhood seems grumpy, including his mother who is homesick for Puerto Rico, but when he and his parents return from the pizzeria where they borrowed an oven to cook their roast, the heavenly aroma reminds those they pass of all they have to celebrate.
While gathered together for the Christmas holiday, a large New Zealand family and their various guests and hangers-on find their lives suddenly invaded by three fascinating but rather sinister brothers and by New Year nothing is the same again.
Una historia antigua, relatada en el estilo de la decima puertorriquena. Los Tres Reyes Magos, Gaspar, Melchor y Baltasar, llegan a Puerto Rico en una nube voladora. Se les aparece un caballo que los lleva a repartir sus regalos por toda la isla. A partir de entonces, los Reyes visitan Puerto Rico a caballo, en vez de en camello. An old tale retold in the lively Puerto Rican folksong style called decima. The Three Kings, Gaspar, Melchor and Baltasar, reach Puerto Rico on a flying cloud. They are met by a horse that helps them distribute their gifts to children all over the island. Ever since then, the Kings visit Puerto Rican homes on horseback, rather than on camels.
An ordinary Danish Christmas turns extraordinary when a family overlooks an important folkloric tradition. Christmas has come, and with it a sparkling white winterfrost over the countryside. But twelve-year-old Bettina’s parents have been called away unexpectedly, leaving her in charge of the house, the farm, and baby Pia. In all the confusion, Bettina’s family neglects to set out the traditional bowl of Christmas rice pudding for the tiny nisse who are rumored to look after the family and their livestock. No one besides her grandfather ever believed the nisse were real, so what harm could there be in forgetting this silly custom? But when baby Pia disappears during a nap, the magic of the nisse makes itself known. To find her sister and set things right, Bettina must venture into the miniature world of these usually helpful, but sometimes mischievous folk. A delightful winter adventure for lovers of the legendary and miraculous.
It’s Christmas Eve, and you’re invited to a Nochebuena celebration! Follow a family as they prepare to host a night filled with laughter, love, and Latino tradition. Make tasty tamales and hang colorful adornos (decorations) on the walls. Gather to sing festive canciones (songs) while sipping champurrado (hot chocolate). After the midnight feast has been served and the last gifts have been unwrapped, it’s time to cheer, “Feliz Navidad and to all a good night!” Latin American traditions for celebrating Christmas Eve in a text that combines English and Spanish words and follows the rhythm of Clement Moore’s “The Night Before Christmas”.
In this holiday picture book, a companion to Raymond Briggs’s The Snowman, a little boy builds a snow puppy next to his snowman—in hopes of getting a real puppy for Christmas. That night the Snowman comes to life and takes the boy and the Snowdog on an adventure to the world of Snow People. But the best is yet to come on Christmas morning, when a real, live puppy is waiting under the tree.
Young Anja, whose greatest dream is to be one of Santa’s elves, makes friends with the animals that guide her on the journey from her home in the far North to meet Santa.
Juanito, Victoria and Adelita can’t wait for Three King’s Day. Grandma Cheli brings shoeboxes for them to fill with fresh, green grass for the Kings’ horses, but there isn’t a single blade to be found growing in the city. The children are ready to give up, when their father suggests a creative solution to their problem.
Experience the wonder of the very first Christmas with this magical changing-picture book. The classic Christmas nativity story is stunningly illustrated by evocative pastel artwork depicting angels, shepherds, and wise men arriving in Bethlehem to share the magic of the birth of Jesus. Lift the gatefold flaps to change the pictures and watch the story unfold along the way.
Two children find goodwill and acceptance in unexpected places even in the hardest of times in a moving tale from a master picturebook creator. In 1930s Liverpool, where streetcars clang on iron tracks, young Bronwen and Dylan live with their widowed Mam. Every day, in the wee hours of morning, Mam leaves the two alone as she gathers other people’s laundry to boil in a big metal copper at home. At night, if she’s not too tired, Mam tells fanciful tales of dragons and ghosties, and on Sunday, she cautions the children about the O’Rileys next door, who go to a church that is not for their kind. But on Christmas Eve, when Mam must go out, Bronwen and Dylan hear a ghostly plonk! plonk! plonk! from the washroom that sends them running straight into the arms of Mrs. O’Riley. Not only do they find that the house next door harbors nothing to fear, but it may hold a blessing for Mam, too. With evocative drawings full of compelling detail, Shirley Hughes tells a timeless, genuine tale of community and human kindness.