Christmas Books for Kids: Grace at Christmas by Mary Hoffman, Illust. by Cornelius Von Wright and Ying-Hwa Hu

Each year I like to make sure we get a book, or two (or three!), that deal with other cultures or countries at Christmas. While Kiddo has been given a wide cultural foundation, living in a small town doesn't always help to keep our minds open to the rest of the world. So by reading about other cultures/countries, it reminds her that others are different, yet the same.


This book series is celebrating it's 20th year!  Yes, they have been around that long!

Synopsis: Grace loves everything about Christmas, especially acting out all the parts in the Christmas story.  This year, though, guests are coming to stay, and Grace wants to say “no room at the inn.”  But Grace learns that strangers can be just as worried about spending Christmas with people who aren’t their real family.  The beloved heroine of AMAZING GRACE stars in this brand-new Christmas story, in honor of the 20th anniversary of Grace!


Review: Kiddo wasn't too sure if she would like this book, but I urged her to give it a try, and within a few pages, she was eagerly turning the pages and discussing how much she loves Christmas, like Grace! As she is also going thru a ballet phase, she was doubly enchanted with the idea of having a ballerina come to Christmas dinner! I liked how the author handled the fact the Grace's father and his new family lived far away and she couldn't spend Christmas with them. We had a great discussion on how hard that is, and how Kiddo needs to be more sympathetic to her friends, whose parents are divorced, especially over the holidays. Kiddo ended up loving this book and was quite happy we read it! I highly recommend it for your family, and for sharing with you children's Sunday school classes!


About the Author: Mary Hoffman is a bestselling British author and reviewer, born in 1945. She ives in West Oxfordshire, England, writing from a converted barn, which is now her study.She is a true enthusiast of Italy and spends a lot of her time there, which shows in her Stravaganza novels (another of her teen series). In total, she has written over 80 books, and is also the editor of a review magazine Armadillo for kids. Find more at her website: www.maryhoffman.co.uk


About the Illustrators: They are a husband-and-wife illustration team. He is an African-American, native New Yorker; she was born and raised in Taiwan. He was trained in the commercial arts; she was a fine artist. But they put their differences aside and learned from each other. They have illustrated dozens of picture books for children, including Princess Grace (from the Grace series). They live in New York City.





Disclosure / Disclaimer: I received this book, free of charge, from Penguin Young Readers Group Publishing, for review  purposes on this blog. No other compensation, monetary or in kind, has been received or implied for this post. Nor was I told how to post about it.