Children’s Books for Christmas

It’s that time of year again. Christmas is a time for gift-giving, and it is especially a time to buy gifts for children. As an author of three titles for children, naturally I would like you to consider the following three books by yours truly.

1. In Case There’s a Fox

While in many ways the simplest and least demanding of my books, In Case There’s a Fox is also my best-selling work. (By this, I do not mean that it is a national best seller, but rather that of all my books in print, it sells the most.)

There are a number of reviews of the book out, most of which are very positive. The most critical review I’ve read said that while the content was worthy, this little skimpy “booklet” is not worth the price.

To be honest, it is priced a little high for what it is, but because it has full color illustrations inside, I had to price it more dear than some other works that have a much higher page count. So the real question is, when you are thinking of buying this work, is whether the content is worth the price. Do I pack enough of a punch into the few words that I use, for this to be a nice present for the child on your list?

In Case There’s a Fox is a book with open texture, so it is capable of being interpreted in many different ways. By far the most creative interpretation that I’ve seen was when somebody decided that the fox was a Christ figure. While that was not my intention, I am not offended by this reading. A really good book, I think, leaves a lot up to the reader.

I’m very upfront about what the content is. In fact, in the video below, you can see every page while I read you the book.

2. When Sword Met Bow

My second best-selling book, meaning that it is second in sales after In Case There’s a Fox, is When Sword Met Bow. It is a true story about my children, with full color photographs. Priced more reasonably than In Case There’s a Fox, this book is a little controversial, because it features an inter-species adoption.

The video below is from Bow’s first day with us.

When Sword Met Bow tells the story of how Sword reacted when there was a new baby in the family. My biggest critics are those who say that describing such a situation is wrong, because chimpanzees are not humans. But the book is helpful for any family that is bringing home a new baby. The reactions to the new addition to the family are pretty much universal.

I don’t have a book trailer, but I do have this short film to share with you of Sword and Bow playing with blocks, when they are a bit older. Notice they each have their own way of playing, and that while there are conflicts, they are always resolved with a hug. Sharing toys is hard for anyone!

When a group of children in a preschool in the Philippines were read When Sword Met Bow, they had many questions and many fruitful discussions about new babies, additions to the family and chimpanzees. This is a book that can foster discussion of  a difficult topic, and if you’re not afraid to talk about it with your children, it does present a wonderful opportunity.

3. Ping & the Snirkelly People

Ping & the Snirkelly People is a chapter book that shows the experiences of a six year old Chinese girl in a first grade class in the United States in 1967. Ping does not speak a word of English when she starts out in first grade in a typical US classroom of that period. She faces many challenges, the least of which is literacy in a language she does not speak, and the greatest of which is learning to understand people with different values from her own.

Here is a book trailer that should give you some idea of what Ping & the Snirkelly People is all about.

Ping & the Snirkelly People is written in simple language, but it is a deep book. It might require more than one reading for all the meaning to sink in. Is this book for everybody? No. For those parents who don’t wish to expose their children to a different point of view, it is not an appropriate book. But if you are not afraid to allow your child to see what it might be like to be a stranger to mainstream American culture, this is a very good book.

I recommend In Case There’s a Fox for people of all ages from zero to one hundred and twenty. It is the kind of book you can read to a baby in a crib and that a preschooler might acquire literacy skills by reading it over again, after the words of the poem are already familiar. But older children and adults can also enjoy the poem.

I recommend When Sword Met Bow for families who are bringing home a new baby or considering adoption.

Ping and the Snirkelly People might be too hard for the average six year old to read aloud, but children from eight on up will get a lot out of the book. I also recommend the book to anybody planning to teach ESL, so they can learn to put themselves in their students’ shoes.

If you enjoyed reading this article, then you might also like:

http://aya-katz.hubpages.com/hub/Book-Toy-Combo-as-Christmas-Gifts

http://aya-katz.hubpages.com/hub/How-to-Learn-a-Foreign-Language-Issues-in-Second-Language-Acquisition-and-Pedagogy

http://aya-katz.hubpages.com/hub/Curious-Facts-About-Foxes