A Holiday Present

K-Gr 4—Storyteller Mark Binder's collection of stories celebrates winter holidays. Several are versions of classic folk or fairy tales, and all are told with great enthusiasm. The thread that ties them together is a new version of "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" that now wishes a Merry Christmas, a cozy Kwanzaa, and so forth. "Jack and the Christmas Tree" celebrates Christmas with a new version of "Jack and the Beanstalk." "A Kwanzaa Surprise" shows how a caring neighbor performs an act of service. An old joke (Oh-Wa-Ta-Goo-Si-Am) is recycled for "Og Saves the World," which commemorates the solstice. For Hanukkah, there's "The Boy Who Hated Latkes." The Indian holiday of Diwali is the focus of "The Gold Coins" which emphasizes hard work and charity, with slight echoes of an Aesop fable. "My House Is Too Small for Ramadan" is a retelling of the classic folktale of a man who complains his house is too small. When the wise woman tells him to start bringing the farm animals inside, he learns a valuable lesson about perspective. "Give to Me Some Cookies!" celebrates New Year's Eve and provides an explanation for a "baker's dozen." At the end, a children's chorus performs the song that connects the tales—"We Wish You a Merry Multicultural End of Year Holiday Season!" The CD was recorded at a school assembly, so audience reaction and participation are included. The stories are clever, with some touches of humor that only adults will catch. The song may annoy some listeners because it dilutes a Christmas carol into an all-inclusive "glad tidings for winter." This multicultural collection provides a rich resource for a variety of celebrations that often fall in the month of December.—Teresa Bateman, Brigadoon Elementary School, Federal Way, WA