Early American Christmas

This book is about a family that moves into a town where no one decorates for Christmas except for them. Everyone begins to call them the Christmas Family. The neighborhood likes their decorations and others begin to put candles in their windows and decorate too.

An Early American Christmas is about a family who moves to America from Germany. They move into a neighborhood where they are the only ones that decorate for Christmas. Slowly, more and more families begin to decorate and they all celebrate it together.

I like this book because it is a great example

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of how things have changed since the 1800's. It also teaches children that if we all set a good examples, often time, others will follow. The illustrations are drawn with colored pencils, which gives the book a historical feel .

If I used this book in the classroom, I would definately get permission from parents, only because it is about Christmas. I might have children paint a picture of how they would decorate their house for Christmas, and write a paragraph about it.

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Tomie dePaola's Early American Christmas tells the tale of a German family that has just moved to a new East Coast American village. Their familial holiday traditions are rich despite the fact few others in the area seem to have any at all. They carry on, preparing for the season for many months.

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All members of the family work together to bring food into the cellar for winter months, dip bay berry candles to light in the windows and carve a new manger scene. The kitchen is full of festive cookies and the bushes outside are covered in wax dipped stars. The story illustrates the power and beauty of tradition and family and their ability to inspire others to carry on in the same way.

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I gave this book three stars because it might not be the best book to read in class since all families do not celebrate Christmas. However; this is a great book. It talks about all of the different traditions and how traditions often travel down from generation to generation. The book main focuses

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on the different aspects of Christmas but other traditions are discussed in the book as well.This book can be used to discuss the importance of family traditions and all the different memories that can be built around the Christmas season. This book can also be used to show children how people celebrate different traditions, based on the beliefs of the family.

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This was a very interesting story about how Christmas came to be apart of the towns and cities and villages of the Northeast part of these United States. Back in the early part of this country, Christmas was not a celebrated holiday. After awhile certain families from different backgrounds began

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moving into these towns and villages and started celebrated that time of the year with a tree in the house and lights in the window. A very nice tale that tells a very interesting story.

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New England didn't celebrate Christmas in the 1800's. however, there was an American family who did and was known as, "The Christmas Family." the American family would start saving harvest in fall just for Christmas day in December. They celebrated Christmas with burning candles in the windows for

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everyone to see. They made these candles out of bay berries so the house will smell really good. The candles were also said to be good luck. They also used food and paper cut outs to decorate their Christmas tree which they cut down themselves every year. Every year all of their neighbors would watch their candles burn and look at their decorations because they admired it. Soon enough every house started to light up, and that was how Christmas was brought to New England.

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I disliked this book for two reasons. First, I thought the language would not be appealing to children because it is too complex. Even when I was reading the book, I was not engaged in the story because I disliked the author’s language. In the story, the author describes the people making candles

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for Christmastime. The author uses the word, “cauldron” to describe a large kettle used to mix the ingredients to make a candle. The author also calls the berries used to make candles, “bayberries” and the mantel in which the candles will sit a “mantelpiece.” Words like cauldron, bayberries and mantelpiece I feel are too complex for third-fourth grade readers, especially considering they are not explained nor are they spaced out throughout the book. The second reason I disliked this book is because of the illustrations, which were plain and lifeless. I mostly disliked that the illustrations lack color, and the characters lack expression. The background of every illustration is white, and it seems there is more white space that fills the pages than there are illustrations. The big idea of this book is to inform readers about how Christmas was celebrated in the early 1800's.

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Christmas was not elaborately celebrated in the early 1800's; in fact, many Americans did not celebrate Christmas at all. A German family moves into a small New England town and brings their Christmas traditions with them. This book focuses on an early American Christmas. Bayberry candles are made

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from scratch, apples and other fruits are stored in root cellars, and popcorn and dried apple rings are formed into garland. This "Christmas family" is the only family celebrating Christmas in this town. At least, for now. This work of historical fiction was written and illustrated by Tony dePaola.

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The inhabitants of a New England village never make much fuss about Christmas until a new family moves in and celebrates the holiday in a special way.

A German immigrant family move to a small New England town still dominated by the Puritan ethos in this lovely picture book from author/illustrator Tomie dePaola. Although no one in their new town celebrates Christmas in any visible way, the family are not deterred, making all of the necessary

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preparations—creating bayberry candles, gathering foodstuffs, carving a Nativity scene, making decorations, choosing a Christmas tree and greens, baking many kinds of cookies—in order to celebrate in their traditional way. With the house beautifully prepared, the family gather on Christmas Eve night to read the story of Jesus' birth from the Bible, and to sing their songs. Neighbors, listening and watching this odd "Christmas Family," are eventually inspired to adopt some of their traditions...

As a long-time fan of Tomie dePaola's work, I was not surprised to find myself enjoying An Early American Christmas immensely, although I do regret encountering it first as an adult, as I believe my childhood self would have loved it even more! I greatly enjoyed the way in which dePaola chronicled all of the many customs and activities engaged in by the family, and I found the overall theme of the book—an immigrant family bringing their own holiday customs to a new land, changing that land's customs for the better (I believe!)—both inspiring and valuable. Many young children today might not be aware that many of the customs we associate with Christmas today, here in the states, were not observed by many of our earliest settlers, particularly in New England. dePaola's book therefore provides an important history lesson, in addition to spinning a charming holiday tale, and teaching the value that immigrants can bring to their new countries. The accompanying artwork here, done in trademark dePaola style (one would recognize his illustrations anywhere!), is every bit as delightful as the story, making this a wonderful package, overall. Recommended to picture book readers looking for Christmas stories with a historical, American setting.

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