"Blizzard" byJohn Rocco Disney-Hyperion. Hardcover, picture book. $17.99.
When a blizzard blankets his town and buries his home, a young boy experiences joy (no school! snow tunnels!) that slowly turns to alarm (no snowplows, no food). But having read his Arctic survival guide, he knows that he has what it takes to help the neighborhood survive the storm. Caldecott honoree John Rocco’s lovely illustrations contain nostalgia, whimsy, warmth and light, and the boy finds both fun and meaning in doing for others. “I couldn’t think about myself. I was on a mission."
“Merry Moosey Christmas” by Lynn Plourde, illustrated by Russ Cox
Islandport Press. Hardcover, picture book. 32 pages. $17.95.
Another Christmas Eve is coming, and Rudolph wants, just this once, to take the night off. He wants to know what it feels like to have that giddy sense of anticipation, to hear reindeer hooves on the roof, to wake up to presents under a tree. So he convinces Santa to accept a substitute, and off they go to find a worthy replacement. Their search leads them to a willing moose, and the training begins. This lighthearted tale, by Maine author Lynn Plourde with illustrations by Maine artist Russ Cox, shows that resourcefulness goes a long way. Moosey might not be able to make his nose glow, or fly, but he knows how to solve a problem.
“Winter Candle” by Jeron Ashford, illustrated by Stacey Schuett
Creston Books. Hardcover, Picture Book. 32 pages. $16.95.
It’s Thanksgiving in an apartment building in the city, and Nana Clover has forgotten to get a candle for her traditional centerpiece. The only thing the building superintendent can come up with is an ugly lumpy stump of a thing, but it’ll do. And so the candle’s journey begins, from one apartment to the next, from one seasonal celebration to another. This could easily get bogged down in sentimentality, but Ashford gracefully describes the little candle’s power to shine through a Jewish family’s havdalah ceremony, to gleam on a Scandinavian Saint Lucia crown, to dance on a kinara holder during Kwanzaa, and to glitter enough to welcome and guide a new family to the building during a storm.
Schuett’s gorgeously rich and textured illustrations glow with shadows and stars.
“My True Love Gave to Me: Twelve Holiday Stories,” edited by Stephanie Perkins
St. Martin’s Griffin. Hardcover, YA Fiction. 321 pages. $18.99.
These 12 holiday tales charm and delight. Some of the best and bestselling young adult writers of the day, including Rainbow Rowell (“Eleanor and Park”), Laini Taylor (“Daughter of Smoke and Bone” series), Gayle Forman (“If I Stay” series), and Holly Black (“Doll Bones”), spin yarns of winter romance from the contemporary to the magical to the all-out fantastical.
Love and hope cross all borders here: rich-poor, black-white, city-country, human-mythological, even human-elf. Standouts include Kiersten White’s “Welcome to Christmas, CA,” where a young chef divines the foods and tastes that connect people to happier times, and Stephanie Perkins’ “It’s a Yuletide Miracle, Charlie Brown.” It’s about a girl who ends up kissing the boy selling Christmas trees in the parking lot, but it’s really a story about the gifts – the kind you can’t buy – that matter most.
Melissa Kim is senior editor for children’s books at Islandport Press.
In this season of love and good will, it is, I believe, important to pause a moment and reflect on our blessings and the important people in our lives. I am so very grateful for my husband, and sons and their families, and faithful friends, and good health. And the list could go on.
