Christmas in New  York: A Pop-Up Book
596199
One of my favorite books to look at each year as the holiday season approaches. Chuck Fischer has done an excellent job of capturing the very essence of Christmas in New York in pictures, colors, favorite events.

It's an interactive book that is sure to please children and adults alike. Whether you've been to New York for the holidays or have seen them via sattelite and dream of going, this book takes you there again and again.

I've given it often as a gift and it has become one of the most treasured traditions of those that received it. Everyone just loves it. I recently gave it to a friend who was going to New York for a girl's weekend with her sisters. She loved it so much, she gave them each a copy as a rememberance of the trip.
3263361
A visual stunner from author/illustrator Matt Tavares. A perfect Christmas gift for the kid in your life-or keep it for yourself! #NYC #RockefellerPlaza #Christmas #cardinals
3869472
The book does a wonderful job of pointing out the magic of Christmas and how our society has turned from a celebration of the holiday and spirit of Christmas to a shopping ordeal and loss of good will.  It does a good job of returning nostalgic thoughts when Christmas held a ton of wonder for kids and parents getting the chance to see the utter joy and anticipation in their child's eyes.  I loved being able to picture Christmas like it was as a child and should be today.
4914532
These are great books. We ordered this for the first Christmas we spent in Oregon. It's got a very nice classic feel to it, and it's great for the young readers to have some unique books just for the holidays. It was a big hit, and I've recommended it to my co-workers who have young ones. It would also make for a fun coffee table book for the Christmas season I suppose.
21859
This is the second Christmas in a row that I have purchased multiple copies of this wonderful book to give to friends as presents. The response I got from the four friends that I gave the book to last Christmas made me realize that I had struck gold and I ordered 8 more books for this Christmas. Mr. Landau's unique style appeals to friends who love the wonderful photo's and enjoy reading the "insider stuff" about our Presidents and First Ladies, that neither they, nor I have found in any other book. The chapters and sections make it very easy to read a chapter at a time or jump ahead to a favorite President. We have enjoyed laughing at the stories and wondering what our current first family would make of them. I and my friends are amazed at how beautiful the invitations to the White House were early in our history. I hope that Mr. Landau is writing another book about the Presidency, he is getting a lot of fans one book at a time.
3734690
I purchased this book because of a reference from an encyclopedia.  I began researching information about Saint Nicholas years ago when my own children first started asking if Santa Claus was real.  I love being able to use Saint Nicholas as a transition between the fantasy and reality of Christmas traditions.  This is a very good book to introduce anyone to the variety of Christmas gift-bringers celebrated by different people throughout the world.  Saint Nicholas, Sinter Claes and Black Peter, Father Christmas, Christkindl, Jultomten and Julbock, Julnisse, Star Man, The Magi, Befana and Babouschka are all addressed.  Brief explanations of their traditions and the date(s) when they visit are given.  The illustrations are very nice.  The gift-bringers are introduced in the story by a father mouse who is responding to his oldest son's comment that "...there is no Santa.  Never was.  Never will be!"  This comment obviously causes concern to the younger mice in the home.  Father mouse takes his family to the attic to show them a book which shows "that Santa has been around a long, long time, in many different places in the world."  The family is relieved when they return back to their home and Sidney hangs up his Christmas stocking with the rest of them.  The story itself isn't much to speak of but the book is a good introduction to the traditional lore of these beloved figures.
893814
I bought this book for my new granddaughter and was so pleased with it!  The book is beautifully illustrated.  It's fun to see what each turn of the page will unfold into a new and unique pop-up.
2824662
If you like Sabuda's pop up books, you'll love this one, too.  Period.  There's only one "new" pop up in there (the rest are some used in The Christmas Alphabet, but only the C,H,R,I,S,T,M,A,S letters are used) but it's a small book in size and the cost enables it to be given as a stocking stuffer, etc.  Highly recommended!
198043
The familiar text is augmented by brightly colored illustrations reminiscent of modern stained glass windows. This is an outstanding holiday book to add to collections in church and public libraries or for personal giving to Christians of any age.
4601286
Random House Authors

This novella is full of Christmas magic. It is the perfect book for any person who is not feeling the excitement of Christmas. Donita K. Paul turns on all the Christmas lights and decks all the halls with romance in Two Tickets to the Christmas Ball. There is also a bookstore, an old fashioned bookstore on a street named Sage street. I loved the name of the street. The name of the bookstore is delightful too. I tried over and over to say the third name, "Wizbotterdad." I never could do it. I would love to hear Donita K. Paul pronounce Warner, Werner and Wizbotterdad .

When I was growing up, I had the chance to visit quite frequently a bookstore downtown. My mother and I took the trolley and subway to Leary's in Philadelphia. Leary's I thought of the store often while reading about this bookstore. Warner, Werner and Wizbotterdad makes me remember wooden floors with a squeak, long tall book ladders to reach books far away from reaching hands. Books with shiny red or blue ribbons for a bookmark. Gold edged pages and  illustrated pages which I often discovered in the classics of Dickens, Jane Austen and Hans Christian Anderson. If you ever find a bookstore like Warner, Werner and Wizbotterdad, you will go back again and again to feel the splendor of a no nonsense bookstore which will hold your heart forever.

I didn't just fall in love with the bookstore. I also wanted Sandy for my sister. She's Simon Derrick's sister. Simon Derrick is Cora's boss. Simon's nickname for his sister is Candy Sandy which is very different from Sandy Candy. At least, that's how Sandy explains her name. I thought Skippy made this novella wonderful too. He's the cat that belongs to Cora. For example, Skippy hides in particular hard places to find. "She'd ferret Skippy out. That cat had no way to escape, and how hard could it be to find one fat cat in a one-bedroom apartment?"

Two tickets to the Christmas Ball  is also about relationships. The novella is Christian fiction. The most complex relationship is not the romance between two people in the book. The complexity involves Cora and her sister, Zee.  When there is a troubled relationship in a family, life can become like a migraine headache very fast because the people who are new in a person's life might not understand what in the heck is going on in this otherwise nice family. Cora describes her family as "....Tomorrow's Sorrows because whatever they choose today inevitably ends up being something they regret tomorrow." Simon's family is totally different. Simon realizes he is blessed to have a family who are responsible, like to enjoy life and where love is served up freely like a cup of tea. Simon's family reminded me of The Von Trapp family Sound of Music.

Last but not least, there is the ball, a Christmas ball. I'm not telling who is given the free tickets to the Christmas ball. Neither am I telling who sponsors the Christmas Ball.  I will write Sandy's words. "Love makes you stronger, not weaker." "Love always bring the wonder of magic. I also enjoyed reading a bio of the author on the back flap of the book. So, very soon I am going to make a journey to Dragon Land. I'm really not ready to leave Donita K. Paul's magical worlds.
1966623
Book Title: Flashes and Specks
Author: Mark Pogodzinski
Publisher: No Frills Press
IBSN: 9780578047119

"Listen, my friend, there are two races of beings. The masses teeming and happy --common clay, if you like --eating, breeding, working, counting their pennies; people who just live; ordinary people; people you can't imagine dead. And then there are the others --the noble ones, the heroes. The ones you can quite well imagine lying shot, pale and tragic; one minute triumphant with a guard of honor, and the next being marched away between two gendarmes." ~Jean Anouilh

Just in time for the Christmas holiday season comes a story of comfort and joy, guess again. Even if the book "Flashes and Specks" takes place close to Christmas it is far from being a holiday classic.

"Flashes and Specks" begins at the funeral breakfast for a troubled young man, Carter, who decided to try once more to end the anguish he was suffering. Carter was the cousin of Henry Kent, who is the main character of the book. Let me try and sum up the life as Henry knows it. When Carter was still alive they were comic book buffs. In reading them they found that characters, although you wanted them to stay the same, changed as their writers changed. In the present time he is a 8th grade Math teacher who hopes he is shaping young lives as he teaches his formulas and solutions. Henry's wife has left him with no word as to why and even if she plans on coming back, he is hopeful she will. He has seen his father go through the same situation and his mother, after a time, returned home. He has a young son, Arthur, who takes random pictures of people and adds them to the "city" he has made out of milk cartons and a vast amount of imagination, in the basement of their home. Playing in the background of Henry's life are the rumors of nuclear bombs and of World War III, as seen on news reports and heard of the radio. Even his teaching mentor is having delusions of having the exact date of the end of the world by using random numbers in a secret formula he has developed.

This book will lure the reader into the psyche of a man who craves for a hero to fix things and make the villains go away. On the surface Henry seemingly lives a normal ordinary life, but underneath its really full of complex relationships and circumstances that are out of his control. The book is a fast read and I recommend it to adults who want to read a present day story that shows how life can get in the way of real life. But I would not recommend reading it during the holidays!
3722126
I loved this book so much that  I actually blogged about it on Carroll Gardens Patch which is the neighborhood where Mr. Gentile lived and where the book is set  and coincidentally happens to be my neighborhood, too.  God bless Mr. Gentile for telling such a beautiful story.  Here is the post:

Little Christmas, Newly Discovered Classic Written by Carroll Gardens Native Son
by Laura Eng, 1/4/14

A couple of days before Christmas I went up to BookCourt to look for a Christmas story written by Frank McCourt. Unfortunately that book was unavailable but as I waited for them to check, I happened to notice a slender book on the counter near the register. It was called Little Christmas and, as I flipped through the pages, the following words jumped out at me: St. Lucy cookies, St. Mary Star of the Sea, struffoli, crab sauce. This looked like my kind of book and I immediately decided to make it a gift to myself.

Little Christmas is a magical Christmas memoir by Vito Gentile, a Carroll Gardens native. Mr. Gentile is also a poet and playwright who taught dramatic writing at NYU for several years. Most of Mr. Gentile's lovely memories in Little Christmas are from the 1950's but he ties the whole book up like a Christmas present with a day of experiences which take place on Little Christmas, January 6th, in modern-day London. The whole book is interspersed with stirring Christmas-themed poems which Mr. Gentile has written over the years.

Mr. Gentile so beautifully conveys his love of family, tradition, and the true meaning of Christmas.  I read the whole book in two sittings but I know that I will want to re-read it every Christmas. The writing is so moving, his delightful family members so real, his memories so vivid that I laughed out loud and shed more than one "memory-tear." One of my favorite parts, other than the stuffoli parts, of course, is when a young Mr. Gentile and his little brother Joey meet their father as he returned home from his job on the waterfront in the hope of convincing him to buy a Christmas tree early in the season. The ensuing scenes are both funny and heartwarming.

Little Christmas makes a perfect read whether you are an old-time Carroll Gardens resident who longs to be transported back to the good old days even just for a little while or a newcomer who would like to learn about the traditions and true character of long-ago Carroll Gardens. I am so glad I happened upon this enchanting book; I just loved it and I think you will enjoy it, too.
3913520
Thoroughly enjoyed this relatively short book, reading it by the fire and Christmas tree over the holidays. $2 well-spent. I see they are making a movie of the book for a Christmas 2017 release starting Dan Stevens, Christopher Plummer, and Jonathan Pryce.  The book is an tasty confection combining elements of a Dickens bio, 1840s Britsh history,  the publishing saga of this particular work, and sprinkled on top with some history of the Christmas holiday itself and the traditions we have come to associate with it.
2457360
What a cool book, I love the great illustrations. The pop ups are large and fun.
1251651
The book has such a great feel to it, the whole Christmas vibe especially the snowy Christimas holiday magic was pretty enjoyable!
Olivia along with her colleagues are stranded in New York during Christmas time where they were attending a conference. Olivia loves New York so for her being in New York especially with her friend John is no hardship. Everything of course is made difficult with her being responsible for her colleagues all with different and big personalities. Then there Elijah the New Yorker who Olivia meets on the airport and feels attracted to, complicating everything.

John who works for HeForShe campaign is also in New York. He has been Olivias friend for a few years now. John was great guy, I wish we gotten to know him a bit better. Every Christmas he and his family would have a big family gathering but now he is stuck in NYC far away for them, so he decides to make the best of it and show Olivia how amazing Christmas can be.

Olivia was a pretty great protagonist, shes just a genuinely nice person with a perchance of landing herself in humours/ awkward situations. She doesnt really feel like Christmas is anything special because in her family it isn't so Olivia goes through a journey over the course of the book realising what Christmas is actually about.

We get to see some NYC in winter and Christmas time and those bits were pretty magical, making me wish I was in New York as well. I think the author did a great job showing NYC, the subtle friend to lovers relationship, making more friends and making Christmas special even when stranded somewhere far away from hime.

Quibbles: I just felt the romance between John and Olivia could have been developed a lot more than it was.  Hide Spoiler

The book has great humour, delightful characters and making one practical girl believing in the magic of Christmas!
3530190
Great conversational reading book about the background of American Christmas traditions and Christmas Carols;  how it all happened in America.  Wonderful weaving of facts, history, etc..  I will use this book for my stocking stuffers,  Thoroughly enjoyable !
725658
In this wonderful children's book, the house on Exeter Street goes from crowded to overflowing as more guests, both expected and unexpected, arrive on Christmas Eve.  Grandparents, uncles from South Africa, stranded  travelers and the children from next door keep showing up until people,  dogs and cats are sleeping in the attic, in the basement, in the cupboards,  on window sills and even in the bathtub!  Santa, when he arrives, has to  take off his socks and count on his toes to be sure he's remembered  everyone.  The illustrations are detailed and charming, and the story  telling is simple but moving.  In my family, this book is a favorite and  gets read daily during the Christmas season.  The whimsy and warmth appeal  to children and grown-ups alike.  Unfortunately, this book is out of print,  so if you find it, grab it!