The Legend of the Candy Cane: The Inspirational Story of Our Favorite Christmas Candy

What a sweet interesting book The Legend of the Candy Cane is even though is geared for toddlers, it kept the attention of my nine year old. The book is made of hard cardboard, and great for little hands to carry around.
The book is beautifully illustrated with bright colors, and the children noticed the dog and cat in the pictures. The boys wished they could be Lucy and help unpack all that candy; a child’s dream comes true.
When it came time to tell the legend of the Candy Cane, they were enthralled at the story, and sad about Jesus blood being represented by the red and white stripe. They have looked this book over and over, and are able to read a lot of the words themselves. This one is a real keeper for the Christmas Season, right show more on our coffee table.

I received this book from Booklook Bloggers of Harper Collins Christian Book Publishers, and was not required to give a positive review. show less

Not at all what I was expecting…

When I read the word “hardcover”, I assumed it was a regular hardcover book but what arrived in the mail was a board book.

Imagine my surprise…

Regardless of my surprise, my children LOVE it! Even though it is simple enough for a very young child to enjoy, my children (who are 8 and 11) are enchanted with the beautiful story inside!

My daughter has claimed it for her very own. She took it OFF of my shelf and proudly carried it to her own, where she gave it a place of honor.

My son is not quite as possessive of it but he stood over her shoulder as she read and did not once have a comment about it being a “baby” book – which is his usual comment about any book his sister who is three years show more younger, picks up to read.

Not that I can blame him… since he is reading on a high school level already.

But I think it says a lot about how wonderful the story within!

I am actually excited! Now, instead of donating the book, we have what will become an heirloom!

Exciting!

And no… we don’t have any other board books we will be able to pass on, none of them survived my own children. I’m so very thankful they are both learning to appreciate books now – being cautious with them and cherishing their favorites.

And The Legend of the Candy Cane is clearly already a favorite!

I received the book in exchange for an honest review. show less

First sentence: One dreary evening in the depths of November a stranger rode into town. He stopped his horse in front of a lonely storefront. The windows were boarded shut and the door was locked fast. But the man looked at it, smiled, and said, "It will do."

Premise/plot: This is a picture book "origin" story for the popular Christmas treat, the candy cane. Children learn from a candy maker (candy shop owner) the spiritual significance and symbolism used in the candy cane.

My thoughts: I liked this one well enough. I do love candy canes (though it is an extremely rare treat these days). I have heard most of these before though that might just be because I read this twenty-five years ago.

This book was a bit disappointing. The illustrations are very old fashioned, which is quaint, but rather unappealing and comes off a bit odd. The story tries to ascribe religious meaning to the shape and colors of the candy cane.

The story explains that the shape J is for Jesus and flipped the other way, for the shepherd’s staff. They then assign the colors to give them a religious meaning. The assign red for the beating that made Jesus blood run down like red stripes and white for being washed clean from Jesus’ forgiveness. It appears that this has been toned down in words and illustrations from previous versions, but it still is a concept that small children will not understand. The thing that concerned me the most is that while show more the book is labeled for ages 4-8, this is a board book which is usually given to younger children 1-4.

I do not recommend this book for below age 4 and probably would raise that age up a little. I would recommend the parent read the book first, and decide if your child is ready for the content.

I received this book from the BookLook blogger program in exchange for an honest review. show less

This was an explicityly religious Christmas story about a town that gets a new candy store (that's kind of incongrous, ha ha). The owner of the candy story tells a little girl about the origin of the candy cane. They then deliver candy canes to all the townspeople and invite them to the grand opening of the store.

I'm not sure I'm happy with the idea that the red stripe in a candy cane represents Jesus' blood, but whatever! That definitely has more to do with the idea of eating dried blood than anything else. This would probably make a nice Christmas story at a Sunday school or in a Christian school setting.

I did really like the illustrations, which are sort of Norman Rockwell-esque at times. There's a nice one of the little girl show more opening a giant box filled with lots of different types of candy that I drooled over. It's sort of odd, but it almost looks like the cover illustration was done by a different artist altogether. Weird. show less

This delightful hardcover book tells the legend of the candy cane through a man who comes to a village and sets up a new shop. A young girl, curious to know what kind of a shop it might be, befriends the man and helps him. Discovering that it is a sweets shop, she helps set out the sweets in their various containers. The shopkeeper tells her and the new customers how the colours and the shape of the candy cane are related to Jesus and His message of salvation.

I really liked the old-fashioned sweet shop with all the jars of candies and treats. They reminded me of some of the shops that I have been in, in some of the tourist towns I have visited. The illustrations were beautifully coloured and rich with visual interest.

The story is a show more wonderful Christmas story that will be a lovely one to bring out every Christmas to read with children. Though the book is designated for children ages 4-8, I think The Legend of the Candy Cane will become a classic for ages to come.

I thoroughly enjoyed this story and I gave this book 5 stars out of 5.

Thank you to the publishers for providing a copy of the book via BookLook Bloggers in exchange for a fair and honest review. A positive opinion was not required. All thoughts are my own.

This review was published on my blog Shelf Full of Books http://kathrynsshelffullofbooks.blogspot.com/2015/03/book-review-legend-of-candy... show less

One dark November night a stranger rides into a small prairie town. Who is he? Why has he come? The townspeople wish he were a doctor, a dressmaker, or a trader. But the children have the greatest wish of all, a deep, quiet, secret wish. Then a young girl named Lucy befriends the newcomer. When he reveals his identity and shares with her the legend of the candy cane, she discovers fulfillment of her wishes and the answer to her town's dreams. Now will she share what she has learned?