Advent Books

I read this book to my little sister when we got it from the library. The story is well-written and conveys a great message. It's pace and wording flows easy when reading aloud, and I highly recommend it for younger kids.

This is a very gentle story, enthrallingly soothingly told, with illustrations that make you feel cozy despite the preponderance of snow depicted on every page. The parallel between Martha the cow's birth story and the sparely told Nativity is just right--not overdone, never preachy. The willingness of the human couple to exercise concern for Martha is a nice touch and lends a magical feature to the story. My 15-month-old son is just beginning to develop an interest in story time, and this is one he insists on almost every night!

"The Origins Of Christmas" by Joseph F. Kelly, Liturgical Press, Collegeville, Minnesota, 2004.

This book covers exactly what the title says, "The Origins of Christmas". Professor Kelly presents the establishment of Christmas as an important feast day in the Christian Church, with both eastern and western roots. Drawing heavily on the scriptural nativity stories, found in the Gospels of St Mark and St. Luke, the author shows the roots of story of the Three Kings, then Star over Bethlehem, the Flight into Egypt and many more commonly held aspects of Christmas as the present age knows it. Using historical analysis, Dr. Kelly makes it clear that Christ was probably born between 6 B.C,. to 4 B.C., (based upon the records for the death of Herod) and that the ancient Church chose December 25th as the date for celebrating the Birth of Christ as a holy remedy to Roman extravaganzas in that month of the year. Kelly shows how Christmas and Epiphany developed as competing feast days for the Nativity of Christ in Orthodox Catholic and Roman Catholic branches of Christendom. He also devotes some little time to St. Nicholas and how that saint's feast day metamorphosed into a gift giving day in certain countries (e.g. The Netherlands).

This is not, however, a book that deals with the tinsel: the origins of Christmas trees, or Christmas decorations or Christmas lights. Christmas carols are hardly mentioned, and the more modern aspects of Christmas, such Prince Albert's introduction of Christmas trees to England, are not emphasized in Kelly's book. If you want a bible-based analysis of the origins of Christmas, and how the biblical story grew into today's modern story of Christmas, then this is the book for you.

In The Origins Of Christmas, Joseph F. Kelly (Professor of Religious Studies at John Carroll University) deftly traces the evolution of Christmas in Christian life and western culture. Readers will learn when Christmas was first celebrated as the birth of the Christ; how December 25th became the official date for Christmas; how the three "magi from the East" became the three kings known as Melchior, Caspar, and Balthasar riding on camels and coming from three different continents to worship the newborn in a manger; why medieval and Renaissance artists tended to portray Joseph as an old man; when Christmas music first made its appearance; the real St. Nicholas and how he became the most well known of all the Christian saints. The diverse origins of Christmas will come as a fascinating surprise to most who know only the Sunday School version of the Christmas story from their childhoods. The Origins Of Christmas, is very highly recommended and informative reading in which Professor Kelly begins when Christmas did not yet exist, and concludes when Christmas had become an integral part of the world culture in general, and Christian communities in particular.

I enjoyed the story. It was a nice twist on the tale. Hopefully, parents will use the book to encourage discussions about life in other parts of our country.

Ok, so I am Amanda's father. But I also am an English teacher (retired) and now a kids story time reader at the local library.
This is a good book. The Jim Rice pictures are lively; the text is true to Ozarks dialect--none of the stupid "hillbilly" mockery that mars so many attempts to portray Ozark life. This is a telling of the old story in a way that can open children's eyes to a world different from their own, or--if the children live in the regions of the Applachians or the Ozarks--convince them that there is much to love in their own heritage.

The kids to whom I gave this book found it interesting. Keeping in mind that this book is for children 5 - 8, the parents found it interesting as well.
They liked the plot. It gave them an idea of what Christmas is like in another part of the world the way that "The Children's Film Festival" used to do on TV during the 1960s. They also liked narrative because the kids really enjoy reading it aloud.

Pablo's Christmas is a wonderful addition to multicultural Christmas stories. As a Spanish teacher, I am always searching for stories that will convey to students what life is like for others in the world. Pablo's Christmas tells a touching tale of family sacrifice, bravery, and strength. The lovely illustrations enhance the story by showing life in a small Mexican village. I will enjoy reading this story to my students every year.

Great story about an old shoemaker. He was very lonely one Christmas Eve. He read a story about Jesus that day. Wondering what he could do for Jesus, a voice speaks to him, telling the old shoemaker to watch out his window the next day and he will speak to him. But Jesus assured him that he will not be in a form the old shoemaker will readily recognize. He did show up the next day but in many different forms, i.e. a poor woman w/child, a hungry street cleaner, etc.

In this lovely picture book for older children, Papa Panov is an elderly shoemaker, feeling lonely on Christmas Eve. He reads about the birth of Jesus, long ago, and how Mary and Joseph had been turned away at the inn. If they had come here, he thinks to himself, I would have taken them in and cared for them. After drifting off to sleep, Papa Panov has a dream in which Jesus says he will come and visit the old shoemaker the next day. Eagerly, Papa Panov watches the streets on Christmas day, looking for Jesus. Along comes the humble street sweeper, and then a homeless woman and her child, and others who are down on their luck and in need. Papa Panov, though he wants to be watching for Jesus, kindly reaches out to each one who comes his way, offering a bit of food and comfort. When the day ends and Jesus apparently has not come, Papa Panov is disappointed -- until in another dream Jesus says that he had come after all! "I was hungry, and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me water, I was cold and you took me in. All the time you were helping them, you were helping me!"

Told through the journal of 12 yr. old Becca, the book is written in mountain jargon, warm, friendly, the kind that makes the reader want to drop in and sit a spell with them. After the loss of their MOm to consumption (probably TB), the children continue on living, attempting to make Papa laugh. This is what they feel their mother wants them to do. However, Papa is not in the mood for laughing, in fact, suicide is more on his mind. His fiddle has been silent, his social contacts nonexistent. The Christmas part is touching, when the children attempt to have a Christmas and papa rages that it will not happen. I was happy to see this made into a movie for TV as well, but of course, it is more touching to read the book.

It's hard to believe "Papa's Angels" wasn't written by Becca, the 13 year old girl who narrates the story. Becca, who can't speak, writes to tell the story of her 1930's Smoky Mountain family. With journal-like entries in "Becca's Book," she "says things with writin' that most of us can't say when we talk." She teaches us things that were never our own, without feeling we are being taught, and then they become ours. We learn that some people see nothing but their own misery and we learn about losing someone dear to us but being blessed with another. Gary Carden, authoring 70% of the story, skillfully weaves countless sayings and anecdotes into short narratives of interesting, entertaining and sometimes tear-evoking accounts of a family's struggle. He writes with such a smooth, natural mountain dialogue, the reader isn't offended. "Papa can't tell Santa Claus what to do." "His voice sounded like it had tears in it." and "Raise your head and open your heart." are memorable phrases made by Becca's brothers and sisters about their recently widowered father. "Papa's Angels" might be fiction, but it isn't make believe. You'll laugh in places and if you don't pause somewhere in this book because of the tears, you just ain't folk yet. A definite for children and adults.

Inside this wonderful little book you will find these kinds of stories... A boy finds a magical feather in Frankfurt, Germany. A homeless woman sings a carol to an Irish girl on Christmas Eve (see the "read an excerpt" link here on Amazon). Two angels turn the Golden Gate Bridge into a cathedral. An older woman tells a story to her great granddaughter about a man who tried to capture angels on film with his camera. And a whole gaggle of silly goblins spread Christmas joy. If you want to put something a bit different under a friend's Christmas tree you should check out Paper Angels.

Paper Angels is a thought-provoking, enlightening collection of holiday-themed stories. The stories, all of which are well written transport you at once to their varying locales. Through various themes and story lines, the author is able to convey heart-warming tales that are well suited to the holiday season.

Throughout the book, the author employs illustrative techniques which enable the reader to immediately identify and empathize with his characters. I have never read short stories that enveloped me so quickly within the first few sentences - usually it takes a couple of paragraphs or pages to engage this reader. This book is unusual in its scope and is well worth the price.

This book contains at least ten short stories of varying length, that could easily read out loud to children, but can also be enjoyed and appreciated by adults.

My favorite tales, (so far)are "Strings", which to summarize it rather unfairly, is about a girl and a sought after violin; "A Doll for Christmas", which is set in San Francisco and "To Hear the Angels Sing" which is set in Dublin. What makes the latter two tales so intriquing is that the author is able to quite naturally and unassumingly describe these two cities in such a way that we are there - on their streets and at home with the characters.

I highly recommend this book and look forward to more collections from this author.

The more one learns about the Jewishness of Christ, Paul, and the Apostles, the easier it becomes to understand their mindset when writing the New Testament. Situations, idioms, cultural knowledge, and history are different now than they were in the first century A.D.

Russel's proposition is this: if the Bible predicted a series of events, and if a part of history can be found in which those events were fulfilled to the letter, why presume that they haven't yet been fulfilled?

He uses Hebrew and Greek culture, historical writings, and language to map all of the predictions of the "End Time," one for one, to events and persons prominent in the Roman siege of Jerusalem in A.D. 70.

The Bible predicts an end of the old world and the creation of a new world in which Christ reigns. In A.D. 70, Biblical Judaism was wiped out. The Temple was destroyed; there have been no more blood sacrifices since then; the Priesthood was abolished. The old world was destroyed.

Christ returned as predicted. He rescued the believers by getting them out of the city and up into the mountains (clouds). From this point on there could be no doubts that God had abolished Judaism and given the Kingdom over to the Church. A new world was created in which Christ reigns.

I hope this will whet your appetite for a deeper understanding of what took place in A.D. 70, and how it fulfilled all remaining Biblical prophecy.

First of all, the "interview" with J.S. Russell presented is a different J.S. Russell from the author of this book, which was written in the 1890's and is reprinted by Kingdom Council. The Parousia is a classical and thorough, well-written example of Biblical exegesis which argues the case for full Pretorism, the view that all of the prophecies written about in the Book of Revelation were fufilled during the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. This view, which is recently regaining theological popularity, was the majority view until premillenial dispensationalism took over the theological thinking of evangelical Christians in the early 1900's. Since that time we've had endless speculations about "the Last Days" or the "End Times" which have bordered on the ridiculous ("Last Days Madness") and which have discredited Christians in the eyes of non-Christians all over the globe. If you are interested in an understanding of Revelation which does not make silly claims and reduce Christian theology to the level of Action comic books, then I most highly recommend you take the time to read this book. The only downside to the book is that it is written in a highly literate, pre-television fashion that requires real thought and attention to digest. It is well worth the effort, however, both in terms of challenging your ideas and also in terms of introducing you to a mannor of civilized thinking that is unfortunately becomming lost in our increasingly barbaric culture

The Perfect Present is a very sweet Christmas story with wonderful pictures. Kind of Beatrice Potter looking. And many of the pages open up to one really big page. It's just a wonderful book to read to young children.

This is the story of two rabbits looking for each other, each hoping to give the other a "perfect present." Hague's illustrations are the most cheerful and bright I've seen in any of his books. The children love looking through each page for the miniature kangaroo that is madly hopping away from the young rabbit lad. The fold-out pages are fun, but since they are so large, this is a better book for children who are old enough to be trusted not to pull too hard or smash the pages back in crooked. My 6 & 8 year olds both love this book and have for several years. A fun addition to your Christmas library.

The Christmas pieces in Teri Sloat's imaginatively conceived rhyming tale are the stamps on letters to Santa Claus sent from all over the world. It is through these stamps that readers are introduced to different cultures and climes.

A lizard sends good wishes, and wildebeests dance; holidays are observed on mountaintops and in Antarctica. Each stamp from a faraway place reminds us that we are united in joy at this time of year.

Then, when Santa's rounds are complete we find "Santa sleeps `neath a quilt and a blanket of down. He dreams of a world that sleeps safe and sound With a feeling of peace all the year round, While pieces of Christmas cover the ground...

The Christmas pieces in Teri Sloat's imaginatively conceived rhyming tale are the stamps on letters to Santa Claus sent from all over the world. It is through these stamps that readers are introduced to different cultures and climes.

A lizard sends good wishes, and wildebeests dance; holidays are observed on mountaintops and in Antarctica. Each stamp from a faraway place reminds us that we are united in joy at this time of year.

Then, when Santa's rounds are complete we find "Santa sleeps `neath a quilt and a blanket of down. He dreams of a world that sleeps safe and sound With a feeling of peace all the year round, While pieces of Christmas cover the ground."

Recommended for ages 4 - 8.

- Gail Cooke