As a little girl, I loved Christmas anthology books. Nothing made mehappier on a December day than to snuggle up with a big, beautifully-illustrated book full of Christmas stories, songs and poems.
That's why I was so delighted to find this Christmas Treasury at a local dollar store for 5 dollars. I liked it so much, I bought three of them...one for me to read to my grandsons, one for two of my little nieces, and one for two little friends of the family.
Tom Newsom beautifully illustrates "The Night Before Christmas."
I love the fact that there are several songs in the book, complete with music.
The book includes several Victorian-style illustrations and poems as well.
Among the prettiest illustrations in the book are by an illustrator named Pat Thompson, about whom I was able to find frustratingly little online. Making it even more confusing is that there is also a children's illusrator named Pat Thomson...without the P. I'd love to know more about this artist.
Another lovely Pat Thompson illustration in the book's rendition of "The Nutcracker."
Another Pat Thompson illustration in "The Velveteen Rabbit."
Another by Pat Thompson
A Pat Thompson illustration in the Christmas StoryHow about you? Do you have a favorite Christmas book? Let me know about it in my comments section!
3 comments:
Two of my favorites are "Why the Chimes Rang" by Raymond Alden and "The City that Forgot About Christmas" by Mary Warren. I believe they're both out of print, but I saved the copies my mom read to me, which now I read to my girls. I was also happy to see that a new retelling of City was done in 2007 by Susan Leigh here: http://www.amazon.com/Town-That-Forgot-about-Christmas/dp/0758611072/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1291140470&sr=1-1.
This year, I put a basket by the fireplace, filled with Christmas books such as the above and others, so we can grab and read whenever we want this season.
What a wonderful find. I do like anthologies that can be picked up and put down at this time of year, and I'd particularly recommend the Virago Book of Christmas1
Pat Thompson is an artist in Franklin , TN with Southgate Studios. I was trying to remember which book she illustrated to pass the info along to a friend when I came upon your blog. In years past I have taken pastel classes from her and consider her a both a very fine artist and a lovely friend.
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