Hallowe'en has come and gone - 52 days till Christmas

Christmas, Hallowe'en, Diwali, Easter, Yom Kappur, Ramadan...

Many of these culture landmarks, and there are many, provide us with opportunities to better come to understand one another. They also provide educators with fodder for selecting and reading new and exciting books. 

There was a time when I wouldn't have given a second thought to sharing books about any and all cultural events. We seem to be at a time however, when the word "appropriate" casts a dark shadow on such things. At great risk, I dare share a few but guaranteed winners of my favourite Christmas reads. 

This amazing book of short stories by Cynthia Rylant is one of my all time and forever favourites. Six short stories, each one capable of bringing you to tears... I don't recall religion being a theme in any of the stories - poverty, loneliness, love... 

I don't know how accessible this treasure is as I have had my three copies for a long time now. But it is out there and worth your tracking down now, in early November. 

My daughter Victoria will tell you this is THE best Christmas book ever and I agree. No, not religion but Santa Claus, his wife and the child they have always been denied - Holly. We read the novel together several times over. We shared it with friends and neighbours and anyone walking by. It was and remains THAT good. 

A few years back, Holly Claus was released as a picture book and again, WOW! If you plan on reading the novel aloud (as I did and would highly recommend), you will have to get started soon. 

I can't imagine any North American not knowing of The Polar Express. Chances are that they have read the book (or had it read to them). If not, they have almost  certainly seen the movie. Amazing! 

That being said, I am absolutely certain that some children have yet to read or hear the book read to them. You will not want them to be denied this magical experience. 

And finally, I obviously could go on at length and I am not even a librarian, let  me close with one of mine. This beautiful book illustrated by the late Moses Beaver, teaches us how closely intertwined Christianity is to Indigenous belief. The Haudenosaunee will tell you that Peace Maker was born to a virgin, that he
paddled a canoe made of stone and that his greatest gift was a book known as the Great Law (not really a book but a series of stories that would later be written down as the Great Law. Our book is in both English and French as well as in Inuktitut, the Inuit language. It includes a CD of Susan Aglukark singing Canada's oldest carol, the Huron Carol.