Peter Spier's Christmas!

Award-winning Dutch American children's author and artist Peter Spier offers an exuberant celebration of Christmas in this wordless picture book. A close-knit and loving family prepare for the holiday—shopping, decorating, baking cookies, and playing with friends—then celebrates it—church service, Christmas Day dinner with family—and finally recovers from all the festivity in these 90+ color illustrations, culminating in a scene in which the following year' holiday is already anticipated...

Published in 1983, Peter Spier's Christmas! evoked an instant and strong feeling of nostalgia in me, for my own childhood, and the Christmases my own family celebrated. The visuals here felt very much of that time—the cars, the way the show more stores looked, the appliances used in the home—transporting me back to my girlhood. The importance of religious observance at the holiday and how that was handled—a natural part of the celebration, it is emphasized in the church scene, and also in those featuring the family's Nativity set—also struck a chord. The church depicted here felt very familiar to me, having been raised a Congregationalist, and that too gave me a sense of home. All of that said, I didn't feel that the visuals here were so foreign (in either a temporal or cultural sense) that contemporary children couldn't understand them, and there is much that is still current and universal, from the warmth of the family circle—the grandparents coming struck another chord, as my own grandparents were always with us at Christmas—to the fun of the various activities. Recommended to fans of Peter Spier—I really need to read more of his work!—and to anyone seeking wordless Christmas books children can pore over, examining every detail. show less

I'm surprised the illustrations in this pictureless book have aged as well as they did. The cars are a bit outdated. Most homes today would have a dishwasher full of dishes rather than a sink full. The old Electrolux barrel canister vacuum will be foreign to most youngsters. Still I think it would be fun to take this one to see what story my oldest great nephew tells as he looks at the illustrations.

Christmas is one of Peter Spier's textless books. I think his illustrations in this one are wonderfully detailed. However I think this picture story is more appropriate for adults. I loved the image of the sink piled with dishes after the family dinner, but I don't know if children can appreciate an image like this. What is also interesting about "Christmas" is that he shows the beginning, middle and end of the celebration. The shopping and decorating, the returning as well as packing up the decorations. I really don't think this is a great kids book, but definitely for an older child that might 'help' out with Christmas or as I have already mentioned and adult. On the back cover, School Library Journal quotes "Peter Spier proves that a show more picture can be worth a thousand words," and that is really all there is to say about some of Mr. Spier's work. Amazing, detailed and almost more approrpriate for adults than children; they just may not appreciate his work. show less

This book is for grades 1-2.

This book is about a family and how they prepare for Christmas. It follows a sequence of events that begin 12 days before Christmas all the way to 353 days before the next year's Christmas. Through decorating the tree, to baking, to opening presents on Christmas, this book expresses the beauty and spirit of Christmas!

I would implement this book in my classroom as a book available on a library shelf. That way, students who celebrate or do not celebrate Christmas can learn about the time of the year through the sequencing of events in the book as they discover what Christmas may look like for families who celebrate. Overall, this is a wonderful and adorable wordless book!

This was always a favorite book at Christmas time. It is well worn, as well worn as another book by Spier: Bored, Nothing to Do. Imagination soars, quite literally, in Bored.

This is a good picture book for children that cannot read yet. It could also be good to use and let the children write words them selves for the pictures that are in the book. It is bright and colorful!

This book is full of paintings detailing a family and the activities they participate in (mailing cards, putting up decorations, going to church, shopping for food and presents, Christmas morning, Christmas meals, etc.)