Review: Caillou: Happy Holidays! by Marilyn Pleau-Murissi

SUMMARY FROM NETGALLEY.COM:

Caillou’s Daddy helps him be patient until Christmas with a special Advent calendar that counts down the days left before Christmas. Each day Caillou gets to open a window on the calendar and discover a story about holiday customs around the world. Caillou finds out about the first Christmas tree and about the man who became known as St. Nick. He also takes part in his own family traditions, and learns about giving and sharing along the way. A book that celebrates the festivities, traditions and meaning of Caillou’s favorite holiday!  ++HARDCOVER EDITION WITH FOIL++

MY TAKE:
I meant to read this with my child during the holidays but we got busy and only got around to it recently.

I liked the book's concept. Caillou's dad gives him an Advent calendar and each window has a Christmas story or information about Christmas traditions in other countries. It's really a good holiday read, especially if you and your children love all things Christmas-related.

I already knew some of the things mentioned in the book, but I did learn a few things from the book. For example, I didn't know that in Puerto Rico, children leave vegetables under their bed for the three kings' camels.

The illustrations are very colorful and cute. My only quibble with this book is that there is no mention of stories, traditions or customs from Asia; aside from Turkey which is in Eurasia. This makes me a little bit sad, especially since my country has one of the longest Christmas seasons in the world and Christmas is always a huge celebration here. I didn't really go into this expecting to see my country but it would have been nice to be included.

MY SON'S REACTION:
The book is a little too advanced for my son, who is still just learning to read, so I read the book to him. The book was a little long for him and his attention started to wander about halfway through the book.

I wondered if it could work to read the book over the course of 12 days, just like Caillou did, but that may get too confusing and some of the entries were too short and were combined (5-3 are about traditions around the world).

FAVORITE QUOTE/S:

In Spain they eat fish called besugo, and they have a roasted duck in Norway. 

RATING:

SOUNDS INTERESTING?

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