We purchased this calendar/book set for our son when he was about 3 years old. He is just shy of 13 now and it is still a tradition to read this book before bed each night beginning on December 1st. When he was little and couldn't read, my husband and I took turns nightly reading to him. He has a very small tree in his room on his dresser where he would hang the book we read every night. Now that he is older, we still take turns reading every night (him included, of course). This calendar is a simple, yet meaningful way for the family to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ as well as count down the days until Christmas. My son will hand it down to his children one day and I will be purchasing one for my goddaughter who is just turning one. I highly recommend this!

We purchased this book several years ago and it has been the perfect thing to hold the interest of teenagers who have long ago lost interest in children's Advent calendars. The illustrations are child-like, not childish, rather like those of Tomie dePaolo, and the flow of the language is quite lovely. It helps our family to maintain our Advent and Christmas traditions even as our children mature. Also a great present for a family with pre-teen children.

We just finished reading the last little book and then hang it in the Christmas tree.
Our 3 1/2 year old daughter absolutely loved it and every morning was looking forward to read another little book.
It teaches the child the true spirit of Christmas and makes them understand the celebration of the birth of Baby Jesus.
I totally recommend it to anyone, even grown ups!

In this funny story, Baba Edis woke up one morning in her cabin and it was freezing cold. So she wants to warm her bones by making soup. After she finds a bone, she adds beans, carrots, celery cabbage, and an onion for flavor. Her friends Baba Basha, Baba Yetta and Baba Molka invite themselves to have a bowl. While the soup is cooking they each taste it. Baba Basha feels the soup needs salt and adds a fistful of it. Baba Yetta thinks the soup needs more pepper and gives the pepper grinder too many turns. Baba Molka adds an entire bulb of garlic to the soup. The soup is ruined and has to be remade at dinnertime. Baba Edis Cried about it after the soup had to be thrown out. But all four ladies learned that too many cooks without a plan can spoil the broth.

What a wonderful little tale! I actually read this in a second grade basal reader. My class loved it and so did I. I felt like I knew the four ladies that ruined soup together (or maybe I wished I knew them.) The characters were lovable and the story was very appealing as well. I think any child would love this book.

This easy reader chapter book promotes books and reading with an appealing story set in 1905 Maryland. Inquisitive Clara desperately wants to learn to read, but there are no schools nearby, and her father says she's too busy with farmwork to waste her time on books.

Levinson makes historical fiction very appealing to younger readers, with a fine eye to the details of rural life, without getting bogged down in old-fashioned terms. While the story is simple, the characters and plot are realistic. In the process, the reader is introduced to the very first "bookmobile," a horse-drawn wagon, based on historical fact.

In our library, this title doesn't get checked out until it is read-aloud or otherwise introduced to the children. After that it gets a lot of use. Recommended.

What a great little book! It contains 5 traditional folk tales and one modern tale.

The plays are divided into lots of easy-to-read parts which would be perfect for class presentations or puppet shows. Each story includes warm-up or introductory materials as well as extension activities.

This would be a wonderful gift for thespians in grades 1-3 or for their teachers.

This is a terrific book for youngsters who feel left out of Christmas! My 5 year old son took this book in to share with the rest of his kindergarten class. It's educational and easily explains Hanukkah to kids. The book is very engaging and the illustrations are wonderful!

Carolyn Croll's beautifully illustrated book on Redoute is a delight for children and adults alike. Strongly recommended for children interested in art, history and nature.

I was very impressed by the great illustrations in this book. Colorful and eye
drawing they gave a clear picture of the words you were reading. Very nice job!

The story is about a little girl named Ariel and her mother Carlotta who flys balloons.
Ariel wanted to be with her mother on the day of the big race and she stowed away, not telling her Mother.

This is where the fun begins as Ariel and her Mom battle to win the race and Ariel ends up in the lake. A cute read, one you will enjoy reading to your child.

Do you like balloons? If so, this is the book for you. The story is true and took place in 1882. I loved it. There were four characters: Carlotta, Ariel, Bernard, and Mr. Myers. I think kids and their friends should read this book. It did take a long time to read, but it was good.

The Little Snowgirl is a retelling of "The Little Daughter of Snow" from Arthur Ransome's Old Peter's Russian Tales. This is a Christmas tale featuring Babouchka, the old woman of Christmas who parallel's her better known Italian counterpart Befana.

In the tale a woodcarver and his wife have everything they need and want except for a child. After seeing his wife's sadness as the caroling children dream of their gifts from Babouchka, the woodcarver makes a snow girl as a surprise to his wife. The snow girl comes to life, eating crushed ice and sleeping in the cold. Until the miracle of Christmas ...

The illustrations are very well matched in style to the story. This is a delightful book which I recommend.

In this version of an old Russian fairy tale, a childlesscouple longs for a child of their own. The man builds a little girlout of snow for his wife, and the little snowgirl magically comes to life as they wish. But the snow girl still must eat ice and sleep out in the cold...Nice illustrations add to the cheerful, if predictable, story.

It was funny, because the people in the book kept saying the same things. I liked it. It was like Cat Traps, because it was also easy to read.

My children (ages 3 and 4) loved the rhyming of Sweet Potato Pie. The story was easy for them to remember and repeat--something they love to do! Sweet Potato Pie quickly became one of our favorites!

I pulled this book out when my 5 year old asked me to explain how a light bulb works. The book addresses this subject and also goes on to explain, in simplist form, what electricity is, where it comes from and how we use it in our daily lives. It includes an easy experiement that shows how electricity is created. While my child was able to understand most of what was addressed, the introduction to atoms, electrons... was probably more than he needed right now. But the introduction of generators, wires, circuits and how electricity reaches our home was great. The story format, starting with turning on a light switch, kept him interested.

When I first opened the book, I thought it would be too young for my nine year old. To my surprise, it caught our attention and explained the puzzling mystery of electricity and currents in such a way that we both understood how it works. Reading this turned on the light of comprehension. I highly recommend this book to explain the process.