Richard Scarry's The Animal's Merry Christmas - part 3

 Stories by Kathryn Jackson

Illustrated by Richard Scarry

Copyright 1950

“Once upon a time there was a big, white, fluffy polar bear who wanted very much to be one of Santa Claus’s helpers.”

So begins the story of a The Bare Polar Bear, who only wanted to do good for others.  Sadly, his offers were continually rebuffed.  It appears that none of Santa’s elves could see a use for such a big, furry helper.  Just when the polar bear was at the point of giving up, Santa realized that he was overworked.  How could he possibly get to all the stores to say hello to the children or be at all the corners to ring bells? Besides, he still had toys to finish.

Mrs. Claus came up with the brilliant idea to send out helpers in Santa’s old suits.  She found plenty of red suits and lots of pillows to fill out the round, jolly tummies. But what would they do for beards?  

Fortunately, the big, white, fluffy polar bear heard the cries for help. Finally – something he could contribute!  Joyfully, the bear stood while Mrs. Claus snipped of all of his fluffy white fur to craft into beards.  That big selfless bear gave enough fur to give each of Santa’s helpers a nice fluffy beard.

The bear was now happy, yet also very cold. Mrs. Claus noticed his discomfort and found a very large piece of red flannel to make a wonderful warm suit, just right for the helpful bear.

Like that polar bear, we may sometimes be frustrated by a lack of ability to help in a bleak situation.  That doesn’t mean we should give up trying. You just never know when your particular gift or talent will be needed.  And then, like the big, white, fluffy bear, you can joyfully give it your all. 

Merry Christmas!

Richard Scarry’s The Animal’s Merry Christmas – part 2

Stories by Kathryn Jackson

Illustrated by Richard Scarry

Copyright 1950

 

Here is another selection from the treasury of Christmas poems and stories that I wrote about last week.  

Green Christmas is a poem from two different points of view – the woodland creatures and the townsfolk.  It begins with a joyful proclamation by the animals that because there is no snow, they can easily find roots and seeds for their Christmas feast.  

When the ground is bare of ice and snow,

And stars are bright, and the winds don’t blow

Hurrah for Christmas and still no snow!

Next, we hear the townsfolk sigh because they long for a white Christmas Day.  

And our Christmas trees would look extra jolly

Blazing with lights – if the snow came down

Deep and white all over the town!

Yet in the end,

But, “Hurrah for Christmas and still no snow!” 

Cry the woodland creatures, and out they go!

For the child who is praying for a Christmas snow but is unlikely to get it, Green Christmas can help develop empathy for others during a season when children can be prone to self-centeredness. After hearing the benefits of a green Christmas to the cute furry animals, a child just may empathize and accept the lack of snow without complaining. It’s never too early to attempt to teach the lesson of seeing things from another’s point of view.  There is always another side to the story!

 

Richard Scarry’s The Animals’ Merry Christmas

Stories by Kathryn Jackson

Illustrated by Richard Scarry

Copyright 1950

I was lucky to find this book full of heartwarming Christmas stories, all charmingly illustrated by one of my favorites, Richard Scarry.  Since each story and poem is special and touches on the true meaning of Christmas, I had a difficult time choosing which to focus on in this post. I decided instead to write about a different story or poem each week until Christmas. 

 

One poem near the end of the book brought back a sudden rush of childhood memories.  Sugar cookies!  Specifically, my sisters and I baking and decorating sugar cookies.  Since I was the youngest and not the best at rolling out the dough, Marty or Amy had that job.  I don’t even have memories of cutting out the shapes, and I’m sure Marty handled the hot oven part.  But my task was the best of all – sprinkling the colored sugar!  I was teased (of course, because that’s what siblings do) about getting more sugar on the cookie sheet than on the cookies.  Of course, there was some extra raw dough to roll in sugar and pop in your mouth.  And then, after baking, a few broke and we would have to eat those up right away.

I suppose we ended up with a big plate of decorated sugar cookies, but that’s not what I remember.  I remember the best part – the laughter, the teasing, the mess, and the fun.  

Richard Scarry’s Egg in the Hole Book

Copyright 1967 

I’m always on the look-out for interactive board books for the youngest children.  Fortunately, these days there is an abundance of high quality books for infants and toddlers and I have a difficult time narrowing down which ones to purchase for my library.  I was surprised when I found this board book from 1967 at a used book store recently, since I didn’t think there were many from that time.  This is a great interactive story for babies and toddlers that is also, importantly, fairly indestructible.

One day, Henny lays an egg up in the hayloft. It rolls through a hole in the floor and poor Henny runs off to find it.  The egg continues to roll, past many of Henny’s farmyard friends.  All along the way, a child can poke his finger through the hole in the pages to anticipate and feel what is coming at the end.  For after the long journey the rolling egg takes, Henny finds not the egg she was expecting, but her sweet little chick, just hatched!

It is an unexpected happy ending to a harrowing day for Henny.  Hopefully she learned her lesson to keep a closer watch over her unhatched babies!

James and the Giant Peach

By Roald Dahl

Copyright 1961

 James, a young orphan boy from the English countryside, desperately longs for friendship.  He fondly remembers a time when he lived with his parents and had playmates and laughter in his life.  But there he is, stuck now with his two abusive aunts, with seemingly no way out.  One day, a mysterious man gives him a bag full of magical iridescent crystals that are sure to grant him all the happiness he desires.  James trips while running with the bag and tragically spills all the magic out upon the ground.  He again resigns himself to a life of misery and loneliness.  The magic was not all lost, though.  The crystals soaked into the ground near an old peach tree which magically grew a great, enormous peach.

The peach, which grew to the size of a house, was a marvelous way for the cruel aunts to make money.  That is, until the day it fell off the tree and rolled over the aunts, flattening them dead.  Little did anyone know that just before that happened, James had entered into the peach through a tunnel and was firmly in the middle of the pit as it rolled away. 

What James found in the peach was his dream come true, for sitting inside that peach house was a group of friends.  They happened to be giant talking insects, some even larger than James, but they were friends nonetheless.  Giant Grasshopper, Ladybug, Centipede, Earthworm, Glow-worm, Spider, and Silkworm made for a diverse, sometimes argumentative, but all around supportive family group.  They had many harrowing adventures, travelling the world in a difficult to control peach house, and ultimately landed safely in New York City.

James and the Giant Peach gives an important lesson for today.  Diversity is a wonderful thing!  James and his diverse group of friends accepted each other, relied on each other’s different strengths and talents, and lived together peacefully as friends.  Without relying on each other, they would have surely died on their journey.  Banded together, they formed a strong alliance that was able to overcome all obstacles.