I know, I know – this time of year you can’t turn around without bumping into something Christmas themed, and here we are with yet another Christmas picture book! But, like its predecessors, The Quiet Book and The Loud Book, this little gem is simply too adorable for me to ignore. The Christmas Quiet Book features the same cuddly little animals you may have met in the original Quiet Book, but you certainly don’t have to have read one to fall in love with the other.
The Christmas Quiet Book by Deborah Underwood, with pictures by Renata Liwska
Liwska’s endearing illustrations of fluffy bear cubs in knit winter hats and bespectacled moles in the audience at the Christmas pageant are enough to melt your heart, but combined with Underwood’s text, which describes the different kinds of quiet associated with the Christmas season, the images become absolutely precious. Underwood begins the book by telling us that “Christmas is a quiet time,” then goes on to share all the different ways in which it is so. Each type of quiet is accompanied by its own full-page illustration. Some are sweet – a brother and sister bunny stand eagerly before an old-fashined radio to demonstrate “Hoping for a snow day quiet.” Others – like the illustration of a bear cub in a green paper hat who stares, open-mouthed, at his friend in a head-to-toe Christmas tree costume, accompanied by the text “Someone’s dad is a costume designer quiet” – are designed to make us chuckle.
Hoping for a snow day quiet
There’s no plot or storyline to follow here – just a number of quiet, seasonally-inspired moments that work both independently and as a collection. After a decidedly unquiet day of shopping or running errands this holiday season, this is the perfect book to share as a family over a cup of cocoa – suddenly, you’ll have created a Christmas quiet moment of your own.
School Library Journal recommends this book for children in grades Preschool-1st.
Publication Information:
The Christmas Quiet Book by Deborah Underwood, illustrations by Renata Liwska. Houghton Mifflin, October 2012. ISBN: 978-0547558635.
darbythelibrarian
librariancamille
New Brunswick Public Library Kids 