Finding Christmas - Hardcover

Ward, Helen

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0525473009 ISBN 13: 9780525473008

Publisher: Dutton Juvenile, 2004

Synopsis

Rich illustrations tell the story of a young girl searching for a gift for her baby brother on a snowy Christmas Eve, in a book adorned with red foil type and embossed snowflakes.

About this title

From Booklist:

PreS-Gr. 1. The creators of The Tin Forest (2001) tell another beautifully illustrated tale of finding hope in a gloomy landscape. In a dark, snowy town, a little girl struggles to find a present for "a special person." Then, on a shabby street, she discovers a toy shop that nearly explodes with fantastical playthings. The girl is dismayed when a single customer makes off with the store's entire stock, stuffed into an enormous sack (the customer's beard, twinkly eyes, and barely-visible red suit will clue in most children to his true identity). But on the girl's walk home, the perfect present for the special person--a delighted baby brother--magically appears. Ward's simple sentences have a pleasing, read-aloud rhythm, and they nicely capture holiday suspense and anxiety from a child's view. But it's Anderson's incandescent paintings that are really stunning. Miniature, feathery strokes create scenes that beautifully contrast the silver-gray streets, where the girl despairs, and the glorious, magical toy shop. Inventive details and a subtle seek-and-find game will invite children back for repeated viewings throughout the year. Gillian Engberg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

From School Library Journal:

PreSchool-Grade 1–Late on Christmas Eve, a little girl is still seeking the perfect present for her baby brother. She finds a mysterious shop overflowing with toys, but before she can get someone to assist her, another shopper (whom children will realize is Santa Claus) scoops every single item into a sack and hauls it out the door. She is told, "Not to worry, sometimes the best presents are the ones that find us." Instead of despairing, she decides that her brother would love the newly falling snow, but then a stuffed animal miraculously falls from the sky, a gift from Santa. The images of the little girl wandering alone along dark streets and the Dickensian toy shop with its elf-eared shop assistants give this large picture book a surreal, almost eerie quality. Despite the vagueness of the moral (did Santa give the bear to the girl because of her tenacity or because of her resignation?), the spectacle of the toy shop with its fabulous array of strange and wonderful playthings will entice young children.–E. M.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: Dutton Juvenile
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0525473009
• ISBN 13: 9780525473008
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Anderson Wayne