A fitting
wrap up for our 2019 blog offerings, Janet Grecian provides another window into
her amazing book collection with a selection of Christmas stories – historical,
current and the times in between. There are sure to be some nostalgic reactions (I loved
Pookie) as well as some book shop searching to find a special title after
reading this post.
In the
1950s, school awards and Sunday School prizes were nearly always books about
Christmas, so from an early age I was interested in the various ways of telling
the same story, and in different illustration styles, and this was bound up in
the absolute joy of Christmas – family, school holidays, and the delights of rampaging
round the streets of Queenstown with friends as the adults rested after the
excesses of dinner. Then the reading of the new books in the days that followed.
I have about
500 Christmas books – I do cull, I promise, and I am quite discerning when it
comes to new acquisitions – but it now seems that all those I already have are
destined to be kept.
The
Littlest Angel was
the first book that made me cry, at age five (to be followed of course by tears
shed over Black Beauty and Seven Little Australians), so the
story has always stayed with me, as have the other Christmas books from childhood.
They’re not great works of literature or art, but 60 years later, they still
matter.
Published earlier
than these is Tolkien’s Letters from Father Christmas. I came to this later,
but it has become a favourite, and every home should have one. It’s a series of
beautifully illustrated letters that Tolkien, in the voice of Father Christmas,
wrote to his children between 1920 and 1942. The letters relate in a light-hearted
fashion the adventures of Father Christmas and the Polar Bear, and gradually
more characters are added; the tone becomes serious as Europe approaches the
war years. There is a new edition coming this year: 9780008327729 Deluxe
Slipcase Edition ($130), or, for the less ambitious, 9780618512652 is $35.
There are
subsets in my collection: versions of The
Night Before Christmas, versions
of The Twelve Days of Christmas,
versions of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol,
books of carols, versions of The
Nutcracker Suite, Golden Books (nostalgic pleasure), pop-up books, and
different editions of the same title. I have classics – The Jolly Christmas Postman,
Bruna’s The Christmas Book, The Polar
Express, Raymond Briggs’ Father Christmas books – and more recent
titles, modern classics, that I adore.
Harvey Slumfenburger’s Christmas
Present (1993) by
the inimitable John Burningham, is one of these modern classics. Father
Christmas has just one more gift left to deliver, and he must make every effort
to reach the top of far, far away Roly Poly Mountain to get it to Harvey
Slumfenburger. This endearing, wonderful story warms the heart of all readers;
Father Christmas is helped by a series of passers-by, via many modes of
transport (plane, motorbike, jeep, skis) to make sure Harvey Slumfenburger
receives his present. The illustrations are beautiful paintings of the winter
landscape, with the people and animals drawn in Burningham’s whimsical,
charming style.
Robert
Sabuda’s The Christmas Story (2016), 9780763683269
($70), is a masterpiece of paper engineering; six scenes of white sculptures,
with some gold highlights, tell the story of the Nativity. The technical
expertise of this book is breathtaking, and the accompanying text perfectly integrates
the traditional story into the glorious illustrations.
The Christmas Story by Rober Sabuda (Candlewick Press, 2016)
Olive the Other Reindeer (1997), 9780811818070 ($30), by Otto
Seibold and Vivian Walsh, is for the reader who enjoys a play on words. My version
came with the soft toy of Olive, a dog who hears the line of a carol, “All of
the other reindeer” as “Olive, the other reindeer” and promptly sets off to the
North Pole to join Santa and the reindeer delivering gifts around the world. Her
dog/reindeer skills come in handy and this hilarious adventure ends back at the
North Pole, with Olive, wearing her own set of antlers, outside playing games
with the other reindeer.
The reader
of How Many Miles to Bethlehem? (2004,
by Kevin Crossley-Holland and Peter Malone) is addressed in turn by the
characters of the Nativity – Mary, the innkeeper, the animals in the stable,
the shepherds, the wise men, Herod, and the angels – and the unfolding story is
beautifully illustrated, from the glowing endpapers to the blue-green sphere of
our earth on the final page.
A recent release
that I’ve added to my collection is The
Night Before Christmas 9781925870848 ($25). This new edition of the 1954
version of the Clement Moore story reproduces Caldecott Medal winner Roger Duvoisin’s
original illustrations, and is an ideal read-aloud for families on the 24th
December. Moore’s text is perfectly enhanced by the limited-palette pictures,
and the long narrow shape of the book. Readers may remember Duvoisin’s other illustrations
in The Happy Lion, and his series
about Petunia the silly goose; of course, Petunia’s
Christmas is also in my collection.
Another recent
acquisition is Silent Night, 9781786030665
($23), illustrated by Lara Hawthorne. The words of the carol, universally known
and loved, are complemented by Hawthorne’s exquisite pictures, with their use
of matte colours against the details of the starry night. Hawthorne also
illustrated Carol Ann Duffy’s The King of
Christmas.
The First Christmas, 9780143796909 ($25), by Jess Racklyeft,
is another book that captures for small children (and devoted adult collectors)
the wonder of the Nativity. The spare, handwritten text and simple illustrations
combine to depict an occasion of joy, celebration, gift-giving, and
togetherness.
Perfect Christmas!
Editor’s
note: Many thanks Janet for sharing this wonderful snapshot of your Christmas
book collection. If readers have a special title that they would like to share add
a comment and let us know. The CBCA Tas committee, members, and the wider children’s
book lover community, are most appreciative of Janet’s posts over time and the
windows into books that she has provided. Revisit her Noah’s Ark collection
just for the joy of it.
Merry
Christmas everyone and have a wonderful summer reading – why not share some of
those YA and children’s titles in a blog post for 2020 – email to tas@cbca.org.au for consideration.
Janet you must have a wonderful collection. I remember fondly the Book Prizes l received as a child and the sense of magical wonder and expectation as l opened the first page. That wonder should last a lifetime not just for childhood which is arguably the goal of CBCA.
ReplyDeleteTad late commenting, but Janet has mentioned one of my favourites, in Tolkein's Father Christmas Letters. This sparked my Christmas letter writing from Santa to my girls...telling the latest mishaps of North Polar Bear, Paksu and the goblins. We had no tears over presents that didn't work, or broke early...because they had all been subject to major adventures prior to departing the North Pole!
ReplyDeleteMy other favourite Christmas Story is Barbara Robinson's The Worst/Best Christmas Pageant Ever. This was first discovered as one of the books in the Scholastic Library...there were some real gems hidden in those boxes! If you haven't read it, I recommend you do!