THE SNOWMAN – RAYMOND BRIGGS

Unusual amongst the other works on this list in that this book doesn’t have any words, The Snowman was published in 1978 as an illustrated children’s book about a Snowman that comes to life.  The Snowman and the boy who built him then have a magical adventure through the countryside before the Snowman melts in the morning.  It was adapted into a cartoon and the song “Walking in the Air” from the special is constantly on stores’ Christmas playlists.

A STAR OVER BETHLEHEM – AGATHA CHRISTIE

While largely known for her mysteries and characters such as Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple, Agatha Christie was also a very religious person.  Her religious beliefs come out largely in this collection of poems and short stories published as Agatha Christie Mallowan (her title, Lady Mallowan, earned from her second husband).   The short stories vary from a donkey that witnesses the birth of Jesus to a London widow who encounters Jesus on a water taxi and has a profound experience.  It’s certainly worth reading for a better understanding of her abilities as a writer.

LETTERS FROM FATHER CHRISTMAS – J.R.R. TOLKIEN

Another author essentially known for one genre is J.R.R. Tolkien.  Very different from his stories involving elves and hobbits, Letters from Father Christmas takes a page from his contemporary C.S. Lewis and imagines letters written from the supernatural spirit himself.  Tolkien actually wrote the letters for his children between 1920 and 1942 as if they were from Father Christmas (or his chief elf secretary) to add to the holiday magic for them by relating stories that happened to Father Christmas.  The letters were amongst Tolkien’s posthumous works and show not only the full range of his writing but also the lengths he would go to for his family.

THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE – ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE

Not really about Christmas, this Sherlock Holmes story by Arthur Conan Doyle is the only one of the great detective’s cases that takes place during the holiday.  In the days following Christmas, Watson visits Holmes, and the two become embroiled in the search for a missing jewel.  After catching the villain in the story’s conclusion, Holmes indulges in the holiday spirit to grant mercy on the thief.  As with many Holmes stories, it’s been adapted multiple times and might even be shown on TV around the season.

DICKENS AT CHRISTMAS – CHARLES DICKENS

We couldn’t get through this list without including at least one Dickens work, and if you can find this edition in print or on an e-reader, Dickens at Christmas is the book you need.  Containing all five of his Christmas novels from A Christmas Carol to The Cricket on the Hearth, it also features several short stories (including “The Story of the Goblins Who Stole a Sexton” from The Pickwick Papers) that have helped to define the holiday for every generation since.  It really is the most comprehensive collection of Dickens Christmas stories around and totally worth your money whether you get it at a discount or pay full price.

source: anglotopia

Listen to the song in the video and fill in the gaps in the lyrics.

Walking In The Air                   

We’re walking in the air

We’re floating in the 1. …… sky

The people far below are sleeping as we 2. ……

I’m holding very 3. ……

I’m riding in the 4. …… blue

I’m finding I can fly so high above with you

Far across the 5. ……

The 6. …… go by like trees

The rivers and the hills

The forests and the 7. ……

Children gaze open mouth

Taken by 8. ……

Nobody down below believes their eyes

We’re surfing in the air

We’re swimming in the 9. ….. sky

We’re drifting over icy

10. …… floating by

Suddenly swooping low on an ocean deep

Arousing of a mighty 11. ……  from its sleep

We’re walking in the air

We’re floating in the midnight sky

And everyone who sees us 12. …… us as we fly

I’m holding very tight

I’m riding in the midnight blue

I’m finding I can fly so high above with you

Key:

1. moonlit

2. fly

3. tight

4. midnight

5. world

6. villages

7. streams

8. surprise

9. frozen

10. mountains

11. monster

12. greets

Key facts about A Christmas Carol:

– On Christmas Eve, Scrooge makes his clerk, Bob Cratchit, work in the cold.

– He refuses an invitation to his nephew Fred’s Christmas party and will not give money to the charity collectors.

– At home he is visited by the ghost of his old business partner, Marley.

– The Ghost of Christmas Past wakes Scrooge and shows him moments from his childhood, his apprenticeship and his failed engagement.

– The Ghost of Christmas Present takes him to the Cratchit’s home, where he is saddened by the ill, but kind, Tiny Tim. He is also shown how Fred celebrates Christmas with friends and how others celebrate Christmas together.

– The final ghost is the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come who terrifies Scrooge with visions of his death.

– Scrooge awakes on Christmas Day and is delighted to find he has the chance to repent of his miserly ways. He buys a turkey for the Cratchits and attends his nephew’s party.

– Scrooge becomes like a second father to Tiny Tim and gains a reputation for knowing how to celebrate Christmas.

Now that you are familiar with the plot watch the video and answer the questions.

– I’m cold, Sir.

– Bah, humbug.

– Merry Christmas, uncle.

– Bah, humbug.

– You’re invited to my house for dinner. Please come.

– Humbug.

– Alms for the poor, Governor.

– Bah, humbug.

– But what about the poor? Just a little bit.

– Humbug. Let them die.

– Can I have tomorrow off?

– Of course not.

– But it’s Christmas.

– Fine, but be here all the earlier the following day.

– Thank you, Mr. Scrooge.

– Christmas. What a nuisance. Humbug.

– You…

– Who is there?

– In life I was your partner, Jacob Marley, but now I wear these chains. I’ve come to tell you that you’re doomed.

– Can’t I do anything to save myself?

– You will be visited by three spirits.

– Wake up, Scrooge. I am the ghost of Christmas Past and I’m here to show you what has been, so come on.

– Here you are as a young boy.

– Here you are as an overly ambitious youth.

– Here you are as a young man.

– Here you met the love of your life.

– Oh, Belle.

– Here you are with your money, the new love of your life.

– Please, show me no more, Spirit.

– Whatever you say.

– Wake up, and know me better, man.

– You are a giant.

– That is easily remedied. Now come, let us see Christmas.

– See, how joyful they are. And all because of it’s Christmas.

– Here is the home of your overworked employee, Bob Cratchit.

– Why are they happy when they have so little?

– Because they have something you do not. Love and joy.

– But what about Tiny Tim? What will happen to him?

– Don’t ask me. Ask the next guy.

– Spirit where are you?

– Are, are you the ghost of Christmas Future?

– Why? Why are we here?

– Tiny Tim dies?

– I die? Oh, Spirit, please tell me that these things can be changed. Give me a second chance.

– What? I’m back and it’s Christmas morning. The spirits have given me a second chance. I’m going to go out and live my life like a good man.  

– Oh, what a beautiful day.

– Here gents, have some money and a Merry Christmas.

– Santa. Will Bob Cratchit be surprised!

– Mr. Scrooge?

– Merry Christmas, Bob. Have a turkey. I’m also making you my partner.

– Oh, thank you, Mr. Scrooge.

– Oh, don’t mention it, but I must be off to my nephew’s for dinner. Goodbye, and have a Merry Christmas, everyone.

1. What’s Mr. Scrooge wearing on his head?

2. What is Jacob Marley wearing?

3. What’s Mr. Scrooge wearing on his head while sleeping?

4. What size is the Ghost of Christmas Present?

5. What’s the full name of Mr. Scrooge?

Key

1. a top hat

2. chains

3. a blue nightcap

4. He is a giant.

5. Ebenezer Scrooge

That’s exactly how Icelandic people celebrate Christmas each year. This tradition is known as Jolabokaflod, which translates roughly to “Christmas book flood” in English.

Jolabokaflod started during World War II, when paper was one of the few things not rationed in Iceland. Because of this, Icelanders gave books as gifts while other commodities were in short supply, turning them into a country of bookaholics to this day. In fact, a 2013 study conducted at Bifröst University found that 50% of Icelanders read more than eight books a year and 93% read at least one.

Iceland publishes more books per capita than any other country in the world, with five titles published for every 1,000 Icelanders. But what’s really unusual is the timing: Historically, a majority of books in Iceland are sold from late September to early November.

Today, Icelandic isn’t spoken by many more people than the roughly 319,000 who live in the small country. But in 2009, book loans at the Reykjavík City Library totaled 1.2 million — in a city of only 200,000 people. There’s a popular TV show in Iceland, Kiljan, which is devoted entirely to books. And in 2011, Reykjavík was designated a UNESCO City of Literature.

So Icelanders love books.

“If you look at book sales distribution in the U.K. and the States, most book sales actually come from a minority of people. Very few people buy lots of books. Everybody else buys one book a year if you’re lucky,” “It’s much more widespread in Iceland. Most people buy several books a year.”

What kind of books, exactly?

“Generally fiction and biographies would be the mainstays, although it varies a lot,” “Two years ago one of the surprise best-sellers was a pictorial overview of the history of tractors in Iceland.”

That book, And Then Came Ferguson, wasn’t the only unusual breakout success. Another, Summerland: The Deceased Describe Their Death And Reunions In The Afterlife was another one. The book, by author Gudmundur Kristinsson who believes he can talk to the dead, sold out completely before Christmas 2010 — and sold out yet again after being reprinted in February 2011.

And Summerland was self-published — a fairly common phenomenon in Iceland. There is some kind of a myth that people like to tell here, that every Icelander dreams about writing a book. “And sort of 50 percent of those who dream of it actually do it. Before they die they try one way or another to write a book.”

A Book Catalog In Every Mailbox

The Book Flood tradition dates back to World War II, when strict currency restrictions limited the amount of imported giftware in Iceland.

“The restrictions on imported paper were more lenient than on other products, so the book emerged as the Christmas present of choice. And Icelanders have honoured the tradition ever since.” The Flood begins with the release of Bokatidindi, a catalog of new publications from the Iceland Publishers Association distributed free to every Icelandic home.

“It’s like the firing of the guns at the opening of the race,” “It’s not like this is a catalog that gets put in everybody’s mailbox and everybody ignores it. Books get attention here.”

Iceland is Europe’s most sparsely populated country, with just more than 3 inhabitants per square kilometer. So while there’s a high level of engagement, the Icelandic book market is still one of the smallest in the world.

Bryndís Loftsdottir, project manager for Icelandic books at the book chain Penninn-Eymundsson, says that until about 15 years ago, paperbacks were rare because Icelanders didn’t see books as something to be read and bought cheaply.

The success of translated Scandinavian crime fiction has made paperbacks more common today, Loftsdottir says. But the industry and Icelanders have been slow to move to e-books. Part of the reason is a consequence of dealing with a language that’s not widely spoken. But it’s also cultural.

The book in Iceland is such an enormous gift that people give a physical book. They don’t give e-books.

Source: npr.org

Watch the video and answer the question.

What are the people going to read on Christmas Eve?

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Key

John Cheever: Drinking, F.Scott Fitzgerald: The Great Gatsby, Charles Dickens: Great Expectations, Dylan Thomas: A Child’s Christmas in Wales, Posy Simmonds: Cassandra Darke, Louisa May Alcott: Little Women, Charles Dickens: A Christmas Carol, Lisa Gabriele: The Winters