Are you familiar with Patricia Polacco?
I hope you are. I have been in love with her beautiful, funny, moving, and meaningful books for years. My all time favorite is The Bee Tree in which a little girl, with the help of her grandfather and some bees, learns that the “adventure, knowledge, and wisdom of books”….” is as sweet as the honey from a bee tree.”
But that is a blog for another day!
Today I have to tell you about Polacco’s five amazing holiday titles. I love them because they slow you down, they take you back, and they remind you of the simple generosity that makes the holidays truly amazing.
Welcome Comfort
Welcome Comfort explains the mystery of Santa’s longevity and demonstrates that the magic and awe of Christmas springs from the most unassuming of places.
An Orange for Frankie
An Orange for Frankie infuses a little perspective into our holiday preparation. Frankie is the youngest in a large, Midwestern, farm family, all of whom are looking forward with great anticipation to their annual Christmas treat, the gift of one whole orange for each of them. The illustrations bring to life the smells and sounds of a large farmhouse kitchen filled with laughter and fun, while the story reminds you with every incident of the power of generosity, even from the least among us.
The Christmas Tapestry
The Christmas Tapestry is the story of how lives and history become intertwined. A boys quest to help his pastor father to repair and rejuvenate their new church for the Christmas season inadvertently reunites two Holocaust survivors separated shortly after their wedding.
The Trees of the Dancing Goats
This story is rooted in Polacco’s own childhood memories of rural Michigan, where commitment to neighbors superseded divisions of faith and ethnicity. In this story miracles abound as one family interrupts their celebration of Hanukkah to help their neighbors, sick with Scarlet Fever, to celebrate Christmas.
Uncle Vova’s Tree
Uncle Vova’s Tree is a beautiful story of a family’s celebration of a Russian style Christmas. It reminds us that tradition and the joy of family live on even in the aftermath of loss.
In the modern world of black Friday deals and TV specials, all of these books promise to calm, sooth and inspire and, most importantly, to remind you and your family of what is really beautiful about the holiday season.
