Common Sense Media Review
By Regan McMahon
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Warm tale of a girl opening heart and home for the holiday.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 4+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Read
Parent and Kid Reviews
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?
The story does an excellent job of showing the changing emotions of young Grace. She is thrown at first by Christmas not being what she had imagined it would be, then finds 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.
Talk to Your Kids 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?
Book Details
- Author :
- Illustrators : Cornelius Van Wright , Ying-Hwa Hu
- Genre : Picture Book
- Book type : Fiction
- Publisher : Dial Books
- Publication date : October 13, 2011
- Publisher's recommended age(s) : 3 - 8
- Number of pages : 32
- Last updated : July 13, 2017
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