holiday

First Laugh

A Navajo family welcomes a new baby into the family with love and ceremony, eagerly waiting for that first special laugh. Includes brief description of birth customs in different cultures.

It’s A Wonderful Life

What a pity excue for a holiday!

While her friends party in Europe, Anna- a Dutch seventeen year old- is sent to her uncle who lives ina tiny town in Pennsylvania.  Bakerton: two streets, a church, a diner, two undertakers and a steamtrain that spills out a bunch of tourists on a daily basis.

How was she to know that she would feel at home in Bakerton.  That she would meet the most intriguing people.  that she would spend her holiday wearing vintage dresses selling antiques, and learn about funeral rituals.  And that she would befriend a vicar, a baker, a waitress, an old Jewish couple, an Italian cook and many others…

If only she knew she would learn about life this summer…and a little more about herself as well…

It’s a Wonderful Life is a captivating and colorful story of coming of age and true friendship.

Grace at Christmas

When her grandmother takes in a stranded family at Christmas, Grace is reluctant to share her favorite holiday with strangers, even though the visiting family includes a “real live ballerina.”

Strega Nona’s Gift

In Strega Nona’s village, the holiday season is a time of celebrations-and nothing says celebration like a feast! All the kitchens are bustling from the Feast of San Nicola, when the children choose the food, to the Feast of Epiphany, when someone gets to be king or queen for the day. Even the animals share in the holiday spirit, and when Big Anthony smells the delicious treats Strega Nona is cooking for them, he decides that just a taste couldn’t hurt, right? Wrong! Big Anthony gets his just desserts, while Strega Nona surprises everyone with a special gift.

 

The Spider’s Gift: A Ukrainian Christmas Story

Katrusya is devastated that her family cannot afford Christmas presents this year, but it simply wouldn’t be Christmas without a tree. She soon finds the perfect one in the deepest part of the forest and decorates it with homemade ornaments. But the next day the tree is crawling with spiders! Luckily, Katrusya convinces her mother not to throw the tree away. When the family returns from church that evening, they discover that the spiders have left a dazzling Christmas miracle.

Pillars of Gold and Silver

After her father is killed in the Korean War, young Blanca Estela and her mother leave California to spend the summer in Revilla, an old town in Northern Mexico with Blanca’s grandmother. At first, Blanca is unhappy in their holiday retreat, but gradually makes friends and becomes part of the community.