A Trio Of Seasonal Treats

Autumn does not officially arrive until Tuesday, September 22, 2020, one week from today, yet people's thoughts have been turning to the solace found during December holidays as evidenced by the #Lightsforlife hashtag on social media in March of this year.  Lights and holiday decorations appeared outside homes to spread cheer and support for others during this pandemic.  In times of darkness people seek the opposite, they hope for the opposite.  

A trio of Christmas titles, two last week, and one today, are contributing to the comfort.  Each one tells a different story, but each presents the magical merriment found during this season. Happy Narwhalidays (A Narwhal and Jelly Book #5) (Tundra Books, September 8, 2020) written and illustrated by Ben Clanton continues the delightful tale of two friends, a narwhal and a jellyfish, who, more often than not, view the world through contrasting perspectives.  In six short sections replete with their exuberant personalities and some fabulous facts, readers will find themselves singing in their minds, hearts, and maybe out loud.

Jingle Shells, Jingle Shells, Jingle All The Way!

Oh, What Fun It Is To Sing While Swimming In the Bay!

Jingle Shells, Jingle Shells, Jingle All The Way!

Narwhal is happily swimming wearing a red-and-white striped scarf with red ribbon wound around his tusk. Jelly, wearing a ski hat, is anything but happy.  Jelly is shivering in the cold.  Narwhal, in reply to Jelly, states the best part about this time of the year is the arrival of the Merry Mermicorn.  

As you might expect, Jelly is completely skeptical about a being you can't see. Moving through the water, Jelly finds a mysterious package addressed to him.  It contains six mittens.  Jelly is sure Narwhal left this package.  Now Jelly needs to find the perfect present for Narwhal.  It is not easy, not easy at all.

After consulting with Shark, Octopus, Turtle, Shelly, Star, and Otty, Jelly is no closer to finding a gift for his friend.  Suddenly Narwhal greets Jelly, noticing the wrapped gift.  Instead of opening it, Narwhal imagines all the possibilities of what could be inside.  To Narwhal, this is better than knowing.  To Jelly, it is a relief.

The duo then writes a charming story about Super Waffle and Strawberry Sidekick and their encounter with a grumpy green jelly bean whose flavor is

pickle-scum

snail-slime puree.

At the close of the book, Narwhal offers something to Jelly.  Jelly discovers the unexpected can be the best present.  The holiday spirit spreads from the tip of Narwhal's tusk to the ends of Jelly's tentacles and out from the pages of the book.

With the exception of the two pages of Cool Facts and parts of The Mean Green Jelly Bean most portions of this book are told in the witty dialogue between Narwhal and Jelly.  Author Ben Clanton reveals what readers have come to love about these characters in everything they say.  Their conversations also offer much for readers to ponder about holiday celebrations and friendship.  His use of puny language elevates the humor.  Here is a passage.

And you've seen this

Merry Miracle-Corn

before?

Nope!

I think she

might be

invisible.

So how do you 

know she exists?!

I can feel

it in my 

flippers! She is

REAL!

Narwhal, that might

be frostbite you're

feeling.

Using his signature color palette for the Narwhal and Jelly books, illustrator Ben Clanton brings in the crisp shades of blue, white, red and yellow accented with his heavier black outlines.  The contrast between the thinking of Narwhal and Jelly is evident on the front of the book case.  Narwhal is joyous.  Jelly is nearly freezing in the cold.  The red color is in foil.  On the left, back, four square panels further explain the difference in the duo's attitudes.  And yes, you'll be smiling or laughing before you even open the book.

The opening and closing endpapers, in deep sea blue and white, are a pattern of Narwhal and Jelly in their winter attire.  Jelly is still shivering.  On the title page the twosome is placed inside a snow globe.  On the verso and dedication page we read:

To GWEN! It is a gift to

be your papa!

(This says a lot about the heart and mind of Ben Clanton as reflected in his writing and artwork in this book and other titles in the series.)

The contents word is spelled out in red and green lighted bulbs on a string over the list of six sections.  The art 

was rendered in colored pencil, watercolor and ink, and colored digitally.  The text was set in a typeface based on hand lettering by Ben Clanton.

Image sizes shift in excellent pacing to the narrative, double-page pictures, single-page pictures and panels grouped by six, three, five, two, or four.  Most of them are outlined in a black line for framing.  Sometimes a single element will break that border.

One of my many, many favorite pictures is on a half page, framed in black.  The background is a radiating yellow.  We see the upper portion of Narwhal's body from the bottom of the image.  He is smiling with his eyes closed in contentment.  In one of his flippers is the present from Jelly, with the tag For Jelly Narwhal on it.  I wonder how many readers notice when Narwhal or Jelly are smiling, their mouths form a heart.

This newest title, Happy Narwhalidays (A Narwhal and Jelly Book #5) written and illustrated by Ben Clanton, in a well-loved series will be read repeatedly by individuals and shared from reader to reader.  It's a marvelous blend of writing, illustrations, and words of wisdom.  I can't imagine a professional or personal collection without a copy of this book.

To discover more about Ben Clanton and his other work, please access his website by following the link attached to his name.  Ben Clanton has accounts on Instagram, and Twitter.  Narwhal and Jelly have their own Facebook page and website. At the publisher's website you can listen to an audio clip and get a sneak peek at some interior images.  Here is a link to an activity kit.

In a worst-case scenario, the old saying, dating back to Aesop, referring to wishes and their results, has come true for none other than Santa Claus.  Activity at the North Pole, mere days before Christmas, has come to a screeching halt.  All the elves are in a tizzy.  Santa Baby (Henry Holt And Company, September 8, 2020) written by Jonathan Stutzman with illustrations by Heather Fox explains exactly what happens when wishes are granted in an extraordinary manner.

THERE WERE ONLY

four days until Christmas, and

Santa Claus was feeling old.

Let's face facts, folks.  Santa Claus is old, very old.  This year everything about his physical appearance screams his age!  He is finding it harder and harder to control the reindeer, wander around on rooftops, slide down chimneys, and deliver presents.  Every muscle and bone in his body creaks and cracks.  His Christmas spirit is gone.  He does not feel Ho! Ho! Ho! But he will not disappoint all the children around the world.

Santa Claus does the only thing he can think to do.  He wishes using Christmas magic to be young again.  It works!  He goes from ancient, to middle age, then to young adult, and to a preteen.  Does his anti-aging stop?  It does not.  Before Santa Claus knows what is happening, he is a baby!  

All his attempts to communicate with the elves sound like baby talk.  They panic.  They try to teach this baby version of Santa Claus about the reindeer, chimneys, and presents.  He eats the list of children and their gifts and will not eat vegetables to make him grow.  And this baby does what babies do best, he cries.

Santa Claus knows it's up to him, even in this baby state, to save Christmas.  It's Christmas Eve.  He finally manages to utter three very important words which spur the entire population at the North Pole to act.  When it seems as if a miracle is happening, another disaster befalls Santa Baby.  Just as suddenly, a single act shapes the words for the best wish of all.

Sentence by sentence author Jonathan Stutzman sets the stage for Santa Claus's desperate wish by enumerating in descriptive detail all his dwindling physical and emotional attributes.  When his wish backfires epically, the comedy just keeps coming with the endeavors of the elves failing over and over again.  This leads us merrily to the almost miracle when calamity strikes again.

He cried with the fury of a thousand carolers.

We are, as is Santa Baby, happily surprised when the past becomes a part of the present.  Jonathan Stutzman cleverly weaves the true spirit of the season into the final moments of the story.  Here is another passage.  

Santa Baby tried to calm the elves.  He explained what happened, then laid out an easy, three-step plan for how to change himself back to normal.

But all the elves heard was . . .

Ga-ga goo-goo

GA-GA GOO-GOO,

GOO-GOO goo-goo

GA-GA goo-goo!

Christmas was in serious trouble.

The rich darker red canvas highlights the brighter red and white on Santa Baby's (and older Santa's) suits. The Santa Baby text is in a muted gold foil as is the framing, edging on the holly and berries and snowflakes.  These details create a classic feel to the illustration.  To the left, on the back, the same framing, holly and berries showcase a crying Santa Baby.  Beneath him the text reads:

THIS CHRISTMAS,

THERE WILL

BE NO

SILENT NIGHT.

The book case features the Santa Baby and Santa Claus figures without the text and framing.  On the opening and closing endpapers, with the same deep red background, are rows of snowflakes in several sizes and white dots.  On the title page Santa Baby, wearing only a diaper and Santa hat, is looking at readers clearly bewildered.

Each illustration rendered by Heather Fox digitally in her unique style conveys a multitude of moods, comedy, and tiny details like allowing readers to read the words written on letters to Santa.  She manages to depict a range of facial emotions on Santa, Santa Baby, and the elves with the tiniest lines.  Her images may be single-page pictures, edge to edge, a collection of smaller circular visuals on a single page, three horizontal pictures on a single page, or dramatic two-page illustrations.

One of my many, many favorite images is a full-page picture with a two-tone, radiating light red background.  In the center, toward the bottom, is Santa Claus from the waist up.  His arms are raised as he holds the star representing Christmas magic over his head.  His eyes are closed, and his mouth is open as he exclaims:

"Make me

young again!"

Expect peals of laughter when you read Santa Baby written by Jonathan Stutzman with illustrations by Heather Fox aloud.  You'll also be hearing requests of "read it again."  The text and images combine in wondrous hilarious timing.  Collections of Christmas stories, personal and professional, will not be complete without a copy of this title.

To learn more about Jonathan Stutzman and Heather Fox and their other work, please visit their respective websites by following the link attached to their names.  Jonathan Stutzman has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.  Heather Fox has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.  The cover reveal for this title was hosted by Dylan Teut, executive director of the Plum Creek Children's Literacy Festival, on his blog, Mile High Reading.  At the publisher's website you can view interior images.

After nearly two hundred years, the words of this poem never fail to resonate with those who read or hear it.  Numerous times in the month of December over the course of my career with students engaged in a variety of activities, browsing for books, reading books, researching online, or completing a lesson, I would stand in a central location and say:

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.

Each one of them stopped what they were doing.  They moved toward me.  We sat down and they leaned in to hear the rest of the words.  This is the power of shared storytelling, to connect us to history and a celebration.  Of my personal one hundred, sixty-two plus December holiday books, another seven are editions of the Christmas poem sometimes known as The Night Before Christmas.  When I read this new edition, The Night Before Christmas (Harper, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers, September 15, 2020) by Clement C. Moore with pictures by Loren Long, I was immediately struck by the lovely, thoughtful, and loving visual interpretation.  

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,

In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there.   

If you look closely at the bottom of the dust jacket and matching book case, in framing similar to the outlines of buildings, Loren Long gives readers an initial hint of his intentions.  On the opening endpapers, on a canvas of white, there are four sets of children, preparing for Christmas.  There is tree trimming, letter writing, the drawing of a large picture of a fireplace, and a table full of various stages of cookie making.  On the closing endpapers, on the same crisp white background, we see the same children after the visit from St. Nicholas.

In an author's note prior to the beginning of the poem, Loren addresses his portrayal of St Nicholas based on specific words in the poem.  Do you remember them?

He continues his commentary to readers about the universal impact of Christmas regardless of 

who we are, where we live, or how we celebrate.

This author's note on the left and the title page on the right are placed in an enlargement of the four places shown on the jacket and case.

With a page turn we find ourselves for the first two phrases inside the living room of a farmhouse. Stockings hang from a mantel, and a trimmed Christmas tree is on the opposite side of the room.  Three sets of children's boots are scattered across the floor in front of the fireplace.  Between the fireplace and sofa, a table holds a plate of decorated cookies and a bunch of carrots for the reindeer.  A beagle is curled and sleeping on the sofa.  Through the main window is a barn, silo, and windmill coated with snow.

We next travel to the interior of a trailer.  Two children are sleeping in another room in bunk beds.  Their father is sleeping on the sofa in the living room with the family dog curled on a mat in front of the door.  In the corner of this room on a card table is a small Christmas tree with the word LOVE stretched across the front.  There are Christmas cookies on a plate there.  A note over a coffee maker which says Santa with an arrow pointing down invites him to make a hot drink.  Over the main window is a drawing of a fireplace with stockings hanging above it.  On another table is a lighted Nativity creche.

From here we enter a room with two sleeping boys of different races.  They have identical beds, bedspreads, and matching dressers on opposite sides of the room.  Floating stars, crescent moons, gold Christmas ornaments, a rocket ship, and an airplane hang above them.  Between them is a small table with a tiny Christmas tree on it.  Four kittens are sleeping in three different spots in the room.  Through their window is a snow-covered cityscape.

Inside the fourth home, a mother leaps from her bed, grabbing her glasses from her nearby dresser. Her hair is wrapped in a leopard print scarf. 

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,

I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.

Through double glass doors, bordered with lighted Christmas lights inside, we see a large full moon, homes with adobe sides and tiled roofs.  Palm trees tower over the homes.  Palm boughs can be seen near this home through the doors.  A large wreath hangs in the center of the double doors.

Each subsequent page turn takes us to varying scenes inside and outside each of these four places.  We see them from different perspectives, sometimes a bird's eye view or sometimes as if we are in the very room being featured.  As the poem progresses, the details within the places change. A red-headed and bearded man looks out the upper window of the farmhouse.  A Black man looks out the window of the city home.  There is the silence of snow and Christmas lights over the entire trailer park. The brown-skinned mother peaks around the corner of the entrance to the living room as Santa comes down the chimney into a fireplace tiled in colors of the sea.

Closer inspection of the elements in the rooms reveals more about the occupants of these homes and how they celebrate.  In the living room of the city home on the mantle is a Nativity creche and a Menorah.  It is a children's Menorah with the candle holders as dogs.  (This is an actual Menorah used by the son of librarian Susan Kusel.)  On the plate of Christmas cookies in the home situated among palm trees is a piece of key lime pie.

Rendered using

acrylic paint and colored pencil

these illustrations by Loren Long are exquisite.  Children from different racial or religious backgrounds, with a disability or different family structures will see themselves in these pictures.  Each page turn invites a closer and longer look.  Perhaps readers will see a character from one of Loren Long's previous titles.  

I simply could not select a favorite illustration.  I love them all.  The play of light and shadow, the inclusion of details, and the progression of changes within each home are charming, fabulous, and the best of the best.  

This edition of The Night Before Christmas by Clement C. Moore with pictures by Loren Long needs to be in each personal and professional collection.  It is a splendid blend of the past with the present. It is memorable.

To learn more about Loren Long and his other work, please follow the link attached to his name to access his website.  Loren Long has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.  At the publisher's blog, Loren Long talks about four illustrations in this special book.