Senor Parrot’s Perch

Angela and the Baby Jesus, written by Frank McCourt and illustrated by Raul Colon is a beautifully told
story. McCourt tells the tale his mother Angela told him that happened to her as a child.

Seeing the baby Jesus in the Nativity in the church, Angela’s heart goes out to him, thinking he must be cold lying there, so she takes him, so that she can keep him warm. What unfolds from this is a glimpse into a beautiful, loving family and a very original reflection of the true meaning of Christmas, the giving of a life for another’s.

I had checked this out from the library to read, curious, and having heard nothing before about it. It is a wonderful book which we all in the family loved, and which I will probably go out and buy for keeps this weekend. I recommend it highly.

Other books by Frank McCourt include Angela’s Ashes: A Memoir
and Teacher Man: A Memoir. Other books illustrated by Raul Colon are As Good as Anybody: Martin Luther King and Abraham Joshua Heschel’s Amazing March Toward Freedom by Richard Michelson, and Mightier Than the Sword: World Folktales for Strong Boys
by Jane Yolen.

Diane Petryk Bloom, the Children’s book reviewer at the Examiner.com, of Milwaukee, has put together a nice list of new Christmas books. I love these lists. Now its off to look around for them to check them out and see what’s worth buying, and what’s worth leaving behind. I already know that the Hannah Montana entry will be left behind. But Lemony Snickets’ The Lump of Coal will probably make the list.

This is an excellent book for anyone who likes to read to their children and it carries a lovely message of friendship and sharing centered around Christmas. Melrose and Croc are both new to the city. Its the day before Christmas and Croc has come to see Santa. He eagerly awaited the next day when he will see Santa at the big department store. Only he finds that he is too late and Santa has gone. Melrose was decorating his new apartment, and wishing he had a friend. Christmas needs to be shared with a friend and he finds his loneliness grows.

I loved this reading this book to my kids. They enjoyed these animals and felt for their plights. Emma Chichester Clark’s illustrations were warm and amusing and the incongruity of the cold and snowy winter scenes in the city next to the sandy palm-lined beaches added an odd and interesting touch. 

Melrose and Croc: A Christmas to Remember by Emma Chichester Clark, 2005, Walker Publishing Company, NY, NY

Its not always easy to find an excellent Christmas Book. Every year there are new versions of the nativity story in many formats. The best new books are seasonal, winter related fare, and most of the Christmas books seem outright sappy.

This book is an exceptional exception. In the story is told in rhyming verse, focusing first on introducing either the person or the thing and then on telling their part of the story, with the humble stable “dusty and brown” reemphasized at the end of each verse. For example:
“These are the shepherds, tending their sheep, out in the fields while the town was asleep. These are the angels, a glorious throng, who sang to the shepherds a wonderful song: ‘Be not afraid-go to Bethlehem town, to the quiet stable, dusty and brown.’”

The illustrations are beautiful, and like many children’s books, are so central to the impact of the story. The pages are filled with fascinating details that reflect a respect for the visual interests that children have.

There is lots of sing-a-long fun for the whole family here. We have several book versions of The Twelve Days of Christmas song, but this one ranks first on the fun-fun-fun meter. Each day a young pig’s True Love brings her a gift, hidden behind a fold-over section on the right-hand page, and the gifts pile up and the disorder does too. Finaly, all is in place, in order, and ready to sing.

The illustrations are great, simple, and silly. This is a constrant grab by the youngest with the demand to sing. She’s picking up the words as we sing along and by the end of the book, she’s singing loudly and confidently, even if its not the right words. When we start, pretty soon everyone, including the cat, has come into the room and joined in.

Kids love singing. They do it naturally and this book is a natural way to nurture that love.

My daughter should have been eating her supper, but she had gotten up to wander around the dining room. She saw an open flier from Linens & Things and started flipping through it. She saw a shower radio and really wanted it.

“Why”, I asked.

“Because its water-proof”, she said.

“Well so is a duck. And a duck is better than a shower radio”, I said back. “If you drop a shower radio, it breaks. If you drop a duck, it gets angry and starts quacking at you, but at least its still OK.”

I continued, “And if you throw your shower radio, it hits something and breaks. If you throw a duck, it just flies off. And if you drop your shower radio over the side of your boat it sinks. If you drop a duck it floats”.

She wasn’t convinced yet. I tried to explain to her that a shower radio doesn’t really play the guitar, it just plays songs where someone is playing the guitar. If you set your duck down on the strings of your guitar it sounds a lot like the guitarist from Iron Butterfly. Maybe she had me on that one.