Nine Days to Christmas: A Story of Mexico
By: Marie Hall Ets
Medal Winner
NOT REVIEWED
Mother said that Ceci was old enough now to stay up for the posadas—the special Mexican parties given, one each night, for the nine days before Christmas. Ceci was only five, and it was hard for her to wait patiently through the twenty-one long days until the first posada. For that was to be her very own, given in her own home.
She wondered if she would have a piñata—one of those fantastic paper figures filled with fruit and candies—that hung high in the patio. What fun the children always had, being blindfolded and vying to be first to burst the piñata with their long sticks, and then scrambling for the sweet shower. Ceci badly wanted a very special piñata for her first posada.
She thought about it long and carefully and at last came the wonderful day when she knew she was to have her wish. Mother took her to the old Mexican market where the many-shaped, many-hued piñatas hung, quietly turning in the little breeze. They seemed to speak to her, saying, "Take me, take me." It was terribly difficult to choose—until she saw the Very One!
A gentle story of a loving modern Mexican family beautifully told and colorfully pictured—a treat for the reader as well as for the young listener.
From the dust jacket
Houses from the Sea
By: Alice E. Goudey
Illustrated by: Adrienne Adams
Honor
NOT REVIEWED
When we took our pails and shovels
and went down to the sea
the waves ran up to meet us
as if glad that we had come.
They make a fizzling, bubbling sound
as the lacy edges of white
foam swirled around our feet.
This book is about two children and all about the day the waves ran up to meet them and left seashells lying on the beach. The children wonder at the beauty of the shells they find. So many different kinds. So many different colors. And each shell was once the home for a little creature that lived inside.
When you read this book and look at the lovely pictures you can think, as these children do, about these shells. You can imagine how they got their common names. What would you call a shell that looked like a spinning top? Or like a tiny slipper? And why is the little shell that looks like a spiral staircase called a wentletrap?
The shells found on this day are the beginning of a collection. At then end of the book, there are two pages showing the shells arranged and labeled. There is also a section telling how shells are made; how they get their special shapes and colors.
In they story it is one day on one beach though it might be many days on different beaches. Even if you don't live near the sea you might find and enjoy shells in a museum.
From the dust jacket
The Moon Jumpers
By: Janice May Udry
Illustrated by: Maurice Sendak
Honor
NOT REVIEWED
"The warm night-wind tosses our hair. The wind chimes stir. And we all dance, barefooted. Over and over the grass. We climb the tree just to be in a tree at night."
Here is a child's exhilaration and enchantment with the loveliness of summer nights, with the magic of moonlight.
The goldfish play with the moonfish in the lily pond, the fireflies come from the woods, and a giant moth flies by on his search for moonflowers. At this time the call of "Children, oh children" from the house is meaningless, for there are no children present, only Moon Jumpers.
A Tree Is Nice, Mrs. Udry's first book, was illustrated by Marc Simont, and won the 1957 Caldecott Award. For The Moon Jumpers, Maurice Sendak has painted some of his most glorious pictures, catching the moon's illumination of the grass, the house, and the dancing children.
From the dust jacket
