This book is, without a doubt, one of the most wonderful books on my child's bookshelf. The text is a beautiful poem that winds its way through absoulutely riveting, gorgeous illustrations. The book is a work of art, and tells the Christmas story the way it should be told. Young or old, this book grabs your heart and stays with you all year. My three year old still points to the sky and asks "Is THAT the star, Mommy?" -- In a word, this book is PRICELESS.

I do not ordinarily write book reviews, but reading this book has compelled me to send this message. I have never been so moved by a book. The verse is amazing in how it builds you through the story until the beautifully simplistic and meaningful ending. The illustrations are also breathtaking. In a time where Christmas has taken on the symbol of Santa and a sleigh full of toys, this book gives back the true meaning of Christmas. I would recommend this book to anyone. Happy Holidays.

This is a wonderful Christmas book. The verse builds as each stage of the story of Christ's birth unfolds. It has a song-like cadence that marks true poetry and is excellent for reading aloud.

The accompanying art is breathtaking. Each page is beautifully illustrated by fine paintings that evoke their own feeling of the awsomeness of the sacred birth. All of the pictures are bathed in the shadow of night which lends stark beauty to their drama. The artist represents angles in a magnificent form that is truly inspiring.

Children will love this book and adults will treasure it.

The Enchanted Rocking Horse is a book that will be read and reread every Christmas. Several of the stories are excellent for reading to children. The others are suberbly entertaining, thought provoking, and heart-warming for us bigger kids. I loved every story and read it twice this Christmas. I have stored it with my Christmas things to be brought out with anticipation again next year. It sincerely is the best Christmas book I've read in a long time.

My 4 year old son loved this book. He couldn't wait to tell the story of the Candy Cane to his friends. In his school Christmas program, he held his candy cane upside down to represent Jesus. He insisted we buy candy canes to give to all his friends for Christmas. The description of each part of the Candy Cane and how it relates to God was a wonderful message to teach during this hectic Holiday Season. It was something we talked about often.

This witty and whimsical novel features as part of its denoument a fabulous wolfhound. That the book is dedicated to me and my wolfhound Al-A-Twit has absolutely no bearing on my wholehearted recommendation of its purchase.

This was an excellent first novel. And the ending is very surprising! If you like romance, check all out of print resources! This is one you will not want to miss! The hero is dangerous and risky. The heroine believable! She could be your best friend. You want her to be happy. And the adventure and mystery quite surprising. I can usually solve a mystery way before the book ends, but with this one I was way, way off! You will love it if you can find it!!

Alice is always going on little trips from the Boble. I think that if I was Alice I would always be busy going back in time. A great book for ages 5-1,000,000,000,000! I'm 11 now and I still love these books.

In preparing our list of Christmas books to share with others, we had to search far and wide on amazon to find this particular book, a paperback edition of the classic Night Before Christmas.

This is the book I've used for years when reading this story to my own children, passing on Tasha Tudor and other illustrators. Why?

Although we can find the same poem and pay a lot more, with award winning illustrators, the illustrations provided by Douglas Gorsline are surely the best. They are quite colorful, and offer details little children love looking into...cats lie sleepily on the window sill, we see an overview of the town, the presents spilling from the open sack are intriguing and plentiful, and Jolly St. Nick is -- well, quite Jolly (as you can see by looking at the cover!)

The story is an "abridged version" - I'm not sure about other parents, but we read this on Christmas Eve, and we only have so much time and energy. Everything we remember from the classic poem by Clement Clarke Moore is in this version.

(From "'Twas the Night Before Christmas, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse" to "He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle, And away they all flew like the down of a thistle. But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,"HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD-NIGHT!" In between we have everything, from the names of the eight tiny reindeer, to a belly that shakes like a bowl full of jelly, including dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly, when they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky".

In other words, don't be scared off by 'abridged'!)

Perhaps a hardcover edition might be more appropriate if you're giving a gift (unless you're giving to more than one child), but this book is one of the best offers we've found!

A classic done simply and inexpensively!

I discovered this book 31 years ago, for my daughter and it is still loved by all the family. The illustrations are wonderful, warm, charming and delightful and bring a special meaning to the story. We still read it to all the young children on Christmas Eve and for adults we read the story and pass a grab bag gift every time the word THE is mentioned. It would not be Christmas without this book. It is magical.

This beautiful book was in my family as a hard cover edition for many years and was a Christmas Eve tradition for my four sons when they were growing up. It's poor battered body disappeared some time after the last of my little ones went off into the adult world. I am so delighted to see it back again, though this time as a nicely affordable soft cover. Clement C. Moore's enchanting story poem already provides an atmosphere filled with warmth and joyful expectation and with the addition of Tasha Tudor's quaint, nostalgic water-colors from an antique New England the Christmas magic is complete!
The winter landscapes fill our senses and Tasha's own gray tabby cat and Welsh Corgi welcome us into this charming world.
Tasha's Santa that you will meet in this book has been portrayed as the poem describes him...a right jolly old elf. He's not that much larger than the corgi and his team really consists of eight "tiny" reindeer. His pointy ears and his Eskimo mukluks add to the delightful ambiance of the book. He dances with the toys and with the happy animals and we can truly believe it will be a happy Christmas for all.
I hope this book becomes a Christmas Eve tradition for many, many more families.

I sent this book to my nephews & nieces last year, and it was a huge hit. Both families have children ranging in age from 5-9, and finding read-aloud books that are interesting for everyone is always a challenge. This story was well-loved and enjoyed by the younger kids as well as the old, and its subtle message regarding sibling relationships is perfect for children who are struggling to be "good" for Santa!

In the weird and wonderful world of William Joyce, everything looks like a Little Nemo cartoon, and "Santa Calls" is no exception. You have to experience Joyce's illustrations to appreciate their lush intricacy, but even they aren't as good as this book's warm story, the tone of which perfectly captures the "Boy's Life" fiction of the American West, circa 1908.

Spunky Art Atchison, along with Spaulding his pal and Esther his little sister have a thrilling adventure after Santa calls them all North. They battle dark elves and evil queens with gee-whiz pluck (and a candy-bomb of Art's own design). But even THAT isn't the big hug in the book---it's the very end that makes this gem a keeper. Few read those two letters and go away untouched.

Every year several gooey Christmas books come out, both religious and secular, and very few are worth much. But years after purchasing this one, we still pull it out and comb the rich pictures for new details. Forget the "Ages 5-9" recommendation for this: "Santa Calls" is for everybody!

Santa Santa Calls Book Review

Santa Calls is a book by William Joyce. Art is a boy who lives on a farm. Santa sends his family a box and they fly north in it. When they get there, Santa takes them for a ride. When they are riding, dark elves take Art's sister. Art gets her from the dark elves. Santa Calls is an awesome story. I liked the part when Art made a candy bomb of his own design. To find out this stuff buy Santa Calls.

By: Joey

I bought this book for my 5 year old as she loves arts and crafts. Some of the more three dimensional projects in the book were difficult to do, however. For a child, I would recommend the more basic design books by the same author.

I thought Joyce Christmas foisted a pretty lousy book on her readers with "Going Out in Style," but "A Better Class of Murder" has to take the prize for being one of the most contrived, ridiculous and unbelievable plotlines ever conceived--one in which the murder is almost an afterthought to the list of restaurants, clothes, etc. It's pretty clear that Joyce Christmas has either lost her creative edge, or has found what she considers a good way to sell a few more books to unsuspecting readers...but she--and her publisher--ought to be ashamed! Do yourself a favor and skip this ...!

Two characters created by Joyce Christmas, Lady Margaret Priam and Betty Trenka, meet in this book and join forces to solve a murder. Two young boys find a woman dead on the beach and they retrieve a computer disk near her body. Meanwhile Betty Trenka has been asked by her wheelchair-bound friend, Ted Kelso, to meet with Gerald Toth, a computer businessman, to see if he would be a good person with whom to do business. Toth has offered Kelso a lot of money to test a software program, but Kelso thinks that it is stolen goods. Betty travels to New York, where she meets Lady Margaret and they attempt to discover Gerald Toth's true character and also, who has murdered the woman on the beach. The identity of the murderer is hinted at in the book and there are no big surprises when Betty is finally able to point the finger at the perpetrator. However, it is fun to read about Betty's adventures in New York among the rich and famous.

Having had the great honor of sitting on the same author panel at the recent Left Coast Crime Mystery Convention as the legendary Joyce Christmas, I made it a point of reading A BETTER CLASS OF MURDER. In this mystery, Ms. Christmas brings her two series leads--Lady Margaret Priam and Betty Trenka--together for the first time. By having these ladies join forces, Ms. Christmas creates an adventure that is a thoroughly entertaining read. Each lady remains consistently in character as they solve a murder involving high-tech computing and the New York social elite. I enjoyed this book completely, and I recommend it highly.