Happy Sunday and Merry Christmas Eve, kidlit friends! Do you have Christmas traditions? As a kid, we always had cinnamon rolls for breakfast Christmas morning, but I’ve yet to find a good gluten-free substitute, so this year, my spouse bought gluten-free apple cinnamon muffins from Trader Joe’s, which is not exactly the same, but I appreciate the effort. 🙂 We also, of course, make sugar cookies and read ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas. I have several versions of it now. We typically open one present Christmas Eve, too.
Today, I’m reviewing two great new releases and, to celebrate Christmas, a book with a red cover and another with a green cover.
And if you need a last-minute present, we can help! Here at TBR, we pair our customers with a professional book nerd (aka bibliologist) who just gets them. They fill out a survey and then sit back and relax as we pick books just for them. We’ve got three levels — recs-only, paperback, and hardcover — and you can gift a full year or one time, so there are options for every budget! Get all the details at mybtro.com/gift.
Bookish Goods
Book Smart Jigsaw Puzzle by layzegirldesigns
Winter is the perfect time of year for puzzles. I love this book smart one, and it’s such a reasonable price! $13
New Releases
Small-Girl Toni and the Quest for Gold by Giselle Anatol, illustrated by Raissa Figueroa
Like many readers, I love Toni Morrison and was really excited to read this picture book inspired by her childhood. It’s a fictionalized version of a young Toni who loves to tell tall tales. She’s the town storyteller, and she gathers the children together in a quest to find buried treasure that leads them to befriend the town’s outcast. The art is vivid and lovely.
Love Grows by Ruth Spiro, illustrated by Lucy Ruth Cummins
This picture book ticks many boxes. It’s epistolary, so a great read for kids learning about letter writing; it’s about houseplants, another favorite topic; it shows the seasons passing; and it’s about love, making it a lovely Valentine’s read as well. It opens with a child receiving a letter and a houseplant from her beloved aunt. As the seasons pass, she receives more plants and more letters and houseplants, along with instructions on how to care for the plants. The aunt finally visits at the end. End pages contain more information about the plants.
For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.
Riot Recommendations
These two books have nothing to do with Christmas, but I thought it would be fun to do something different and review books with red and green covers — Christmas colors.
The Kindest Red by Ibtihaj Muhammad and S. K. Ali, illustrated by Hatem Aly
It was actually harder than I thought to find a red book that I hadn’t already reviewed in the newsletter before. I thought I’d reviewed this one, but I had not! This heartwarming picture book is a follow-up to The Proudest Blue. Faizah wears a red dress that first belonged to her mother for picture day. In class, she draws a picture of a kind world while her friend draws a superhero. During recess, the two combine their ideas and pretend to be superheroes spreading kindness. When it comes time for pictures, Faizah is upset when she realizes her dress doesn’t match her sister’s. But with community help, her school pictures turn out perfect.
The Cats of Tanglewood Forest by Charles de Lint, illustrated by Charles Vess
As opposed to red, I could think of dozens and dozens of green books. I don’t think I’ve ever officially reviewed a Charles de Lint novel, but his two Newford middle-grade novels are favorites of mine, so I thought I’d go with this! Lillian daydreams about the forest around her aunt’s house having fairies that live within it, but she’s never seen any magic. The forest does have a lot of cats. She feeds and plays with the cats, and then one day, the cats turn her into a kitten, and she finally gets the magical adventure she always wanted. The second book in the series is Seven Wild Sisters. They both have beautiful, full-color illustrations by Charles Vess.
Every year our local zoo hosts a Chinese light festival at night. It’s beautiful! Visiting is one of my favorite winter traditions. We went last weekend.
If you’d like to read more of my kidlit reviews, I’m on Instagram @BabyLibrarians, Twitter @AReaderlyMom, Bluesky @AReaderlyMom.bsky.social, and blog irregularly at Baby Librarians. You can also read my Book Riot posts. If you’d like to drop me a line, my email is kingsbury.margaret@gmail.com.
All the best,
Margaret Kingsbury