Gina Mayer (1)

A slice-of-life look at Little Critter's family at Christmastime going through all the usual traditions.

I've never been a fan of the Little Critter books and have not read many, but I do wonder about the mythology because they seem to live in a world full of critters, but a Nativity scene and an appearance by Santa both feature humans. Do the critters live segregated from humanity by choice or force? Do they interact at all beyond sharing Christmas customs and beliefs? Weird.

FOR show more REFERENCE:

Contents: Winter Fun -- Toy Testing -- Meeting Santa -- The Christmas Play -- The Christmas Tree -- How to Wrap a Present -- Decorating -- Christmas Eve -- Christmas Song -- The Christmas Dream -- Christmas Morning show less

I’ve bought this children’s book for my daughter. She soon memorized the tale and learned when to turn the pages at the right time even though she hasn’t started school and doesn’t know how to read yet.

Some of my friends thought I’ve already taught her to read. She’d get this book from her small bookshelf (next to mine, filled with various titles and genres meant for research and reading pleasure). With a huge smile, she’d turn the pages and start telling the story to them by show more using the exact words written on the pages of the book.

The lesson incorporated into this tale for kids is about learning how to value one’s “uniqueness” and “embracing others’ differences”. It encourages kids to see that differences are special. The lesson is not forced. Rather, it is told in an engaging tale that a child could easily grasp and remember even as she grows older. I like this book because of that and because it has been an instrument in starting my daughter off to her own “reading” journey as she explores the magical charm of the written word. Her tastes in literature became more varied through the years, but she has kept this as one of her favorites. show less

I thought this was an adorable little story. When the teacher announces that there's going to be a new student in class tomorrow the whole class gets excited. Then she asks them all to try very hard to make him feel welcome... because he's in a wheelchair. Ordinarily (before I received the list of books with things to avoid and things books to include) I would have thought this was a really great (albeit idealistically naive) story about acceptance of new kids who are different but not so show more different after all. That being said, I think this was actually a great way to handle this subject. The kids were curious but not rude when they asked the new critter, Alex, questions about his wheelchair. Alex happily answered all of them and "didn't seem to mind". The kids proceeded to learn that Alex was perfectly capable of doing most things by himself and he wasn't afraid or ashamed to ask for help. Alex helped out others just as much as they helped him. Everyone needs a little help sometimes after all. I'm still unsure about using 'special' when discussing people with disabilities but it was in no way offensive in this text. show less

This is a great book for young children. I personally related the plot of the book back to my childhood. It’s about the main character whose new neighbors are moving in. The character is hoping that the neighbors have a young boy his age. He states, “I really hope they have a kid my age!” When he finds out that the child his age is a girl, he was disappointed. As the girl tries to paly with him, he runs away until he realizes that she can do anything he can, so they become friends. show more When I was younger, my neighbor Anthony moved in next-door and I felt the same way, however, we grew very close with each other and still remain best friends! The main message of this book is friendship. show less