 | ON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age. |
 | PAUSE: Know your child; some content may not be right for some kids. |
 | OFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age. |
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Grace at Christmas
- By Mary Hoffman
- Genre: Picture Book
Common Sense Media says
Warm tale of a girl opening heart and home for the holiday.
Parents say
Kids say
What parents need to know
Parents need to know that this seventh book in the series that started with Amazing Grace deals with having house guests from her Nana's native Trinidad at Christmas. Grace has to sleep on the couch, learn to get along with a girl her age, and cope with her disappointment that she will never get to spend Christmas with both her parents, because they are divorced and her father lives in the African nation of Gambia with his other family.
What's the story?
Grace is excited for Christmas with Ma and Nana to come, until she learns that another woman and her daughter -- who is Grace's age -- will be staying over because of a snafu with their flight back to Trinidad. Grace is angry she has to sleep on the couch and sad she can't be with both her parents because they are divorced and her papa lives in Gambia. When Grace finds Savannah crying because she can't be with her papa on Christmas, either, they bond and have fun putting on a Christmas play for the family in the apartment.
Is it any good?
GRACE AT CHRISTMAS does an excellent job of showing the changing emotions of a young girl thrown by Christmas not being what she had imagined it would be, then finding it more fun with the addition of two strangers who needed a place to stay. The expressive watercolors amplify the mood shifts and help the reader experience Grace's initial trepidation and ultimate joy.
What families can talk about
Families can talk about what it's like to not have the holiday you imagined in your mind. Do your high expectations sometimes get in the way of enjoying the celebration as it unfolds?
At first Grace doesn't like the idea of having to move out of her room so the visitors can sleep there. Does that ever happened when relatives come to spend the holiday with you?
This is the latest book in the Grace series. Have you read any others? How does this one compare? What is it about the Grace character that makes kids enjoy these books so much?
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| Author: | Mary Hoffman |
| Illustrators: | Cornelius Van Wright, Ying-Hwa Hu |
| Book type: | Fiction |
| Genre: | Picture Book |
| Publisher: | Dial Books |
| Publication date: | October 13, 2011 |
| Number of pages: | 32 |
| Hardcover price: | $17.99 |
| Publisher's recommended age(s): | 3 - 8 |
| Read aloud: | 8 |
| Read alone: | 8 |
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