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There isn’t much time left for holiday shopping, but here are some books that can make for last-minute gifts: The first two titles are best for ages three to seven.
Twenty big trucks in the middle of Christmas
By Mark Lee
Illustrated by Kurt Cyrus
Candlewick Press
Young boys (or girls) who love trucks will be interested in the various platforms in this picture book that help clear a snowy space downtown for a huge Christmas tree – everything from a fateful donut truck to a snow plow and a boomer truck with a basket crane. The text is straightforward but the illustrations are colorful and detailed, perfect even for those too young to read on their own (but can certainly count on the reader).
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Tiny reindeer
Written and illustrated by Chris Naylor-Ballesteros
Tundra books
A delightful story about a little reindeer who longs to be a part of Santa’s Christmas preparations, but whose size works against him. When Santa suggests that he help out in the mail room, he finds a letter from a girl whose grandfather made him a beautiful wooden sleigh, but not a reindeer to go with him. The little reindeer, with the help of Santa, fills the void and finds a new home in the process.
The endings of the book are an integral part of the plot, with the front extension showing a girl sending a letter from her rural home, while the back extension shows her running through the snow, with a small sled in hand, while the little reindeer, harnessed to the sleigh, flies ahead.
The legend of the Christmas witch
By Dan Murphy and Aubrey Plaza
Illustrated by Julia Iredale
Viking
6 to 9 years
This tale about twin babies abandoned in the Black Forest has decidedly folkloric / fairy tale overtones, but in the style of the Brothers Grimm before a Disney disinfection. Kristoffer and his sister Kristtörn (Norwegian for Holly), had magical traits that helped them survive in the forest and became very close until the day a Danish couple found the boy and, thinking he was alone, took him home. and adopted it.
Her sister, left behind, was found by Lutzelfrau, a witch who brought her home and taught her to celebrate Christmas (that is, the winter solstice). One year, Malachi, Lutzelfrau’s messenger raven, arrives with the news that the villagers are turning against Kristtörn, accusing her of witchcraft. Lutzelfrau tells the girl to leave the Black Forest for her own safety and since Malachi also brings news about her brother, Kristtörn decides to find him.
However, caught in a storm at sea, she lands at the South Pole instead of the North Pole, where her brother, now known as Kris Kringle, lives. Eventually, the two brothers connect, but Kristtörn doesn’t exactly live happily ever after. The book is beautifully illustrated by British Columbia artist Julia Iredale (though it depicts Kris’s sleigh with six reindeer while the text says eight).
– Bernie Goedhart
Reference-o.canada.com