It’s Sunday night and as I type this post my husband and children are putting the final decorating touches on our Christmas tree.  So, as I sit  here thinking about what event to blog about this week, perhaps  Family Trees: A Celebration of Children’s Literature would be most appropriate.

Held from December 4, 2009  through to January 3, 2010 in Concord, MA, USA, the annual Family Trees event is unique among the many holiday events in Greater Boston as it focuses on  children’s literature! The historic Concord Museum galleries are filled with fanciful trees of all shapes and sizes decorated with original ornaments inspired by acclaimed children’s storybooks and contemporary picture book favorites.  Each tree serves as a canvas for the artistic creations of a dedicated team of volunteer decorators. Inspired by the storyline, the illustrations, the characters or setting of a particular book, the decorators let their imaginations take flight, much to the delight of visitors of all ages from all over New England.

Serving as inspiration for this year’s trees are books that are classics and sure-to-become classics. Selections include:

Listen to the Wind: The Story of Dr. Greg and Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and Susan L. Roth

Mrs. Greenberg’s Messy Hanukkah by Linda Glaser, illustrated by Nancy Cote

Amazing Peace: A Christmas Poem by Maya Angelou, illustrated by Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher

Fortune Cookie Fortunes, by Grace Lin

Flotsam by David Wiesner

For a complete list of this year’s  books (there are over 30 titles!)  click here.

Proceeds from Family Trees benefit the Concord Museum’s educational mission serving an audience of preschoolers, school-age children, college students, families, adults and seniors in over 600 school and public programs yearly.  For hours of operation, admission costs etc. click here.

And since we are speaking of the holidays, be sure to check our new website features, which focus on Religious Diversity in relation to End-of-Year Celebrations.

The new issue of PaperTigers, focusing on Religious Diversity in relation to End-of-Year Celebrations, is now live.

The end of the year, when so many holy and secular days are observed and celebrated, reminds us of the importance of understanding and being respectful of how others in our communities engage with and
express their beliefs. Books play an essential role in helping children learn about differences (for instance, why some people celebrate different holidays, or the same holidays in different ways, while others don’t celebrate anything): but more than anything, books can help them realize that, while our individualities do matter, our common humanity matters even more.

We hope you will enjoy our new features, which focus on celebrating diversity while striving for a more encompassing and tolerant world for all our children, families and communities.

We will also be talking about religious diversity and end-of-year celebrations here on the blog this month, so we hope you will share your favorite books and experiences with us!

As our world gets smaller and people from different cultures find themselves sharing one same country, traditions once thought to belong to a particular group are bound to mix with others and acquire new flavors. Sometimes quite literally, as it happens in Duck for Turkey Day.

Written by Jacqueline Jules and illustrated by Kathryn Mitter, Duck for Turkey Day is about Tuyet, a young girl who wants to celebrate Thanksgiving the “right way.” Her excitement about making turkey crafts and singing turkey songs at school is damped when grandma reminds her that they will be having duck, not turkey, for Thanksgiving because “Our family likes duck better.”

When mealtime comes, the wonderful smells of grandma’s special duck recipe fill the house. At the table they take turns expressing their gratitude: for their home, their food, the country where they live… The main menu? Not duck, but family love.

A good time was had by all, but the idea of “sharing time” at school the following Monday has Tuyet worried. “What will Mrs. Cook say about eating duck on Turkey Day?”. When the day comes and she finally tells her classmates about her Thanksgiving meal, they join in with menus of their own: from enchiladas to lamb to tofu turkey to chicken with noddles. Their non-turkey meals remind Tuyet that, even though Turkey Day revolves around food, it’s having a thankful heart and sharing a meal together with those you love that matter the most.

You can watch the book trailer of Duck for Turkey Day here, and for more books on the various aspects of Thanksgiving, check out Colorin Colorado’s reading list.

PaperTigers wishes a Happy Thanksgiving to all who may be celebrating the day!

Of all the Christmas trees I’ve seen this season—and I saw some pretty incredible and creative ones—this book tree is by far the most beautiful. Its message to me: “read and grow.”

The image of a tree made of books reminds me of countless hours of reading pleasure. It makes me think of the books I read this year and of those waiting to be read or yet to be written…

I think I will try my own version of a book tree, next year. And I can’t wait to find out what books will find their way into my life—for the first time or again—in 2009.

On this happy note, I leave you to think about your year of books and growth.

Here’s to PaperTigers sharing many moments of book joy with you and yours in the coming year!

Solstice, Yule, Christmas, Kwanza, Hanukkah, Las Posadas, Zagmuk, Saturnalia… Throughout the world, numerous celebrations happen this time of the year, based on religious beliefs, tradition, newness, or a mixture of them all.

The Winter Book, a title I came across recently, does a great job of representing the diversity of the season in the northern hemisphere—where the cold weather evokes the secular images of snowflakes, candles and evergreen trees… Illustrated by renowned German artist Rotraut Susanne Berner, with poems/text by Robert Louis Stevenson, Edgar Allan Poe, Henry Thoreau, Italo Calvino, Alberto Moravia, Adwoa Badoe and others, this book is a treat that can be best enjoyed if shared with others—preferably under the covers.

And speaking of diversity and treats to be shared, “Memories of Holidays Past,” a snapshot by writers and illustrators put together specially for PaperTigers, highlights a range of experiences: from full-blown Christmas trees to a turkey meal that gets outstaged by a Vietnamese one… Not to be missed!

There’s often a ritual involved in getting families into the holiday spirit: tree trimming and baking treats for some; candle lighting and telling family stories by the fireplace for others… A family I know, for instance, gathers around the tree on Christmas to hear the Christmas Eve chapter of Wind in the Willows, “Dulce Domum.”

For many families storytelling plays an important role in adding extra meaning and warmth to the holidays, whether they read books together; have a tradition of book giving; or listen to the stories of older relatives and how they celebrated the holidays as a child, way back when. In addition to helping kids understand the real meaning of the holidays, stories from books and/or from family members and friends provide a way for children to learn that different people celebrate different holidays, and that one same holiday can be celebrated differently in different families and cultures (did you know that Ecuadorians’ tradition of welcoming the new year involves making a scarecrow?…I, for one, didn’t, until recently.)

A meaningful glimpse of Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa traditions can be gleaned from the following children’s books: in The Legend of the Ponsettia, Tomie de Paola retells the Mexican legend of how the ponsettia flower came to be, through the story of a little girl who fears she won’t have a gift for baby Jesus in time for the Christmas parade; in Angela Shelf Medearis’ Seven Spools of Thread seven brothers highlight the seven principles of Kwanzaa in the process of making gold out of spools of thread; in Linda Glaser’s The Borrowed Hanukkah Latkes, a young girl devises a clever way to make her old, lonely neighbor join in her family’s Hanukkah’s celebrations, in spite of his numerous refusals. And for those of us enjoying cold, dark nights under the covers, Anna Grossnickle Hines’ Winter Lights: A Season in Poems and Quilts helps us warm up by bringing the brightness and meaning of Hanukkah, Christmas and Kwanzaa’s lights to life.

About.com offers good tips on how to wade our way through all the 2007 holiday titles on display in libraries and bookstores everywhere. The Brown Bookshelf has a great list called “Booked for The Holidays.” And for a snapshot of a few children’s book authors and illustrators’ memories of holidays past, follow me… And let the merriment begin!