Illust. By Gabriela Dellosso
I am back into hitting some winter and Christmas books, because ’tis the season. I have had this book in my library for years, yet we left it overseas when we evacuated due to COVID. It’s a bit too young for my kids at this point anyway, so we’re not missing it this holiday season, but they certainly did enjoy it when they were aged 4-7ish.
This is a very cute story about a real-life experience in the author’s life. Watkins takes a memory of her grandfather bringing chickadees into the house one Christmas to relate the discomfort a child might feel when moving to a new place. The subject matter is deep, but the story is personal and relatable, and my kids understood it fully. And especially for them, it was fitting.
I moved my family overseas when my daughter was one and my son was three, and ever since then, we’ve moved around a lot between two cultures, with two extended families in two different countries. As third-culture children, they need ways to illustrate and understand how and why they differ from the other children around them, and this story offers a good platform for that very thing, even if such lessons lie deeper than one would notice with just a quick read.
The book opens coldly, as kids from New Mexico must bear with a cold and snowy winter, but it gradually warms–through story and pics—until the kids are cozying up to their new lifestyle. The feel of this book is gentle and filial, like a warm Christmas fire, and the pictures are just as good. Gabriela Dellosso’s work is endearing and pleasant, especially for a bird-watcher like me.
I recommend the book for educators and parents, especially those working with third-culture kids. Perhaps you might consider it as gift this holiday season!
©2020 E.T.
Read More from JourneyForth Press:
- With Wings as Eagles by William Pinkston (1983)
- These Are My People by Mildred T. Howard (1984)
- Medallion by Dawn L. Watkins (1985)
- Derwood, Inc. by Jerri Massi (1986)
- A Dangerous Game by Jerri Massi (1986)
- Treasure in the Yukon by Jerri Massi (1986)
- With Daring Faith by Rebecca Henry Davis (1987)
- Courage by Darkness by Jerri Massi (1987)
- Some Summer! by Jean Vandervenne (1987)
- Llamas on the Loose by Jerri Massi (1988)
- The Runaway Princess by Milly Howard (1988)
- Abandoned by Jerri Massi (1989)
- A Question of Yams by Gloria Repp (1992)
- Brill of Exitorn by Peggy Downing (1994)
- Peanut Butter Friends in a Chop Suey World by Deb Brammer (1994)
- The Lost Prince by Peggy Downing (1995)
- Tales from Dust River Gulch by Tim Davis (1996)
- Camp Sierra Secret by Esther G. Wilkinson (1996)
- Chickadee Winter by Dawn L. Watkins (1999)
- Songbird by Nancy Lohr (2000)
- Nix by Penny McKnight (2006)
- Shield by Dawn Watkins (2008)