Short Takes: Eight Christmas Books

Susan B. Hagloch -- Library Journal, 12/2/2008 9:50:00 AM

Every Christmas, publishers outdo themselves by producing colorful, alluring titles to appeal to every imaginable taste. This representative sample of 2008 offerings includes crafts, recipes, and beautiful pictures to inspire, amuse, and maybe even suggest new ways of celebrating. They would make great gifts, but they could also work in public libraries. Happy holidays!

Christmas Traditions. Leisure Arts. 2008. 160p. illus. index. ISBN 978-1-60140-832-7. $27.95. CRAFTS
This is the usual collection of beautiful ornaments, wrappings, decorations, and cards to occupy yourself with during any free time you may inadvertently find this holiday season. The book is beautifully conceived and lushly illustrated, but there's nothing really new here.

Dickens, Charles (text), Alice Ross (recipes), & Sharon Stein (illus). A Christmas Dinner: A Story by Charles Dickens. Red Rock Pr. 2008. 88p. illus. ISBN 978-1-93317-610-9. $24.95. F
This is a combination of a picture book, classic story, and traditional English recipe collection. Stein’s primitive drawing style goes well with this first of Dickens’s Christmas tales, written in 1835, when the young Dickens was only 23. It contains the earliest appearance of some of his classic Christmas themes: forgiveness, family, and unbridled holiday joy. The recipes are traditional English Christmas Eve and Christmas Day fare, some of them based on a cookbook that Dickens and his wife wrote early in their marriage. This is one the whole family will enjoy on many levels. Highly recommended.

Elizabeth David’s Christmas. Godine. 2008. 210p. ed. by Jill Norman. illus. index. ISBN 978-1-56792-361-2. $25.95. COOKERY
Joy to the cooks’ world! David returns with a marvelous compendium of English holiday recipes dating back to medieval times. In addition to the expected plum puddings and mincemeat (with real meat), there are a wheaten or barley porridge called frumenty—a favorite in the middle ages—and a delicious spiced beef that recalls some of the flavors that were most familiar before the New World added its bounty to European tables. Absolutely essential.

Edsey, Mary. The Best Christmas Decorations in Chicagoland. 2d ed. Voyageur Pr. 2008. 192p. illus. index. ISBN 978-0-7603-3229-0. pap. $24.99. PHOTOG
This is the second edition of a guide to the most fabulous Christmas decorations in the Chicago area, including Cook and its adjacent counties. The downtown section includes many sites familiar to Chicago natives and visitors alike, but the neighborhoods really shine with private homes that are decorated in ways that defy belief, like the house in Lincolnwood with a tree that not only fills the house, but pokes out through the roof. A must for every library in northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin; this will appeal to those families who pile in the car each winter to survey the season's decorations.

Edworthy, Niall. The Curious World of Christmas: Celebrating All That Is Weird, Wonderful, and Festive. Perigee: Putnam. 2008. 190p. illus. index. ISBN 978-0-399-53457-7. $16.95. FOLKLORE
This addictive little compendium collects lore and pertinent quotes from famous and ordinary folk who either loved Christmas or hated it with an amusing passion. It's well done, so consider it if you need something for the curious Christmas lover or trivia fan, but not an essential purchase.

A Greener Christmas: Discover A Simpler, Greener Christmas. DK. 2008. 352p. ed. by Sheherazade Goldsmith. illus. index. ISBN 978-0-7566-3693-7. $25. CRAFTS
Over the years Christmas has become the most wasteful day of the year. Food maven Goldsmith suggests ways that we can return to a more ecologically sound and less expensive (a timely suggestion) observance of the day. Her natural decorations, cards, and wrappings can all be recycled easily, and homemade gifts (often food items) are more thoughtful than just another gadget. The time for this title has definitely arrived. Highly recommended.

Robert, Karen. Merry Christmas from…: 150 Christmas Cards You Wish You’d Received. Morrow. 2008. 160p. illus. ISBN 978-0-06-147309-8. $14.95. CRAFTS
Robert, who has spent the last several years tracking down photo Christmas cards, here collects the cards she found to be the wackiest and most enjoyable, including those that feature cute kids and pets, clever references to the senders’ occupations, and other amusing features. A nice stocking stuffer but not really suitable for library collections, except the most inclusive Christmas ones.

Storrings, Michael (illus.). A Very New York Christmas. St. Martin’s. 2008. 96p. illus. ISBN 978-0-312-37705-2. $19.95. FINE ARTS
This collection of lovely watercolors shows the Christmas face of New York City landmarks from South Street Seaport and Washington Square to the Bronx Zoo. Storrings beautifully captures the festive atmosphere of the city, and this book is sure warm the heart of anyone who loves the Big Apple. Necessary for regional libraries and a nice if nonessential purchase for libraries anywhere.