Since 2006, School Library Journal has solicited holiday memories from authors and illustrators.  In this edition, our eighth, we feature contributions from Jenni and Matt Holm, Steven Kellogg, and A.S. King, who join the ranks of such beloved authors Judy Blume, Richard Peck, and Loren Long in our annals. Family teams have also shared their memories with SLJ over the years, including mother/daughter Julie Andrews and Emma Walton Hamilton and father /daughter Jules and Kate Feiffer. Jenni and Matt Holm This year, Jenni Holm and Matt Holm, the creators of Babymouse and Squish, share their memories with us. Writes Jenni: “Christmas was a big deal in a house with five kids. That's a lot of excitement and anticipation. Our parents tortured us on Christmas morning by making us all wait at the top of the stairs until our dad had the camera ready and could snap what became the classic shot of all the kids running down the stairs like we were being chased by zombies.” Adds Matt, “The Christmas that most stands out in our head is the one where our dad brought his work home with him. Literally. You see, our dad was a pediatrician. And the work he brought home was whatever flu or virus rampaging through his office. The year in question, he brought the stomach flu home—oh, joy. It took down every kid in the house in a 48-hour period. I'm pretty sure we used every bucket, plastic trashcan, and bowl in the house. It was definitely one of those times we'd wished he'd been an insurance salesman.

Jenni Holm and brothers wait at the top of the stairs on Christmas morning, 1981.

Steven Kellogg Steven Kellogg has created over 90 picture books, including his “Pinkerton” series, which made the dog an endearing character of children’s literature.  His most recent book, which he illustrated, is Snowflakes Fall (Random House, 2013) written by Patricia MacLachan as a message of hope for children and their families following the tragic events in Sandy Hook, CT. Kellogg writes, “One of the highlights of my Christmases for the last five decades has been the reading aloud of Truman Capote's deeply moving and beautiful story: A Christmas Memory. It had been recently published as part of a collection of short pieces by Capote entitled A Tree of Night and Other Stories, which a college professor, Michael Fink, introduced  to our American literature class at the Rhode Island School of Design fifty years ago. The evocative magic of the imagery that Capote spins as he describes the close relationship between a small boy and his aged, eccentric, spinster cousin in a rural, southern family of miscellaneous authoritarian relatives, is nurtured in the glow of their elaborate and imaginative holiday preparations. “The reader becomes an accomplice in their major project, a complex pageant of assembling ingredients for many dozens of fruit cakes that are sent to miscellaneous persons throughout the country.  As they collaborate on the cakes that are their annual gifts to the world, the story grows into an exquisitely rendered love story that epitomizes the essence of Christmas. The conclusion of the story is uplifting and poignant, and I have never been able to read it aloud without a lump in my throat, and tears in the eyes of the listeners. The reading of the story was one of the most important parts of our family Christmas tradition  during all the years that our children were growing up. Here is a photograph of me reading it at the Belden Noble Memorial Library in Essex, NY, last December, where I experienced  the same magic in the beautifully crafted writing that I did when it was assigned to a class of young art students a half century ago, inspiring at least one of them to make it the centerpiece of his Christmas for the rest of his life. A.S. King Young Adult author A.S. King’s latest book Reality Boy (Little Brown, 2013) was named an SLJ Best Book of 2013. Previous Best Book winners who have contributed to this series are Laurie Halse Anderson, E. Lockhart, and Lisa McMann. King writes, “On Christmas Day in 1974, I was four years old and was just recovering from the chicken pox. I got a Popeye inflatable punching toy. "The idea was to punch Popeye in the head and then he would bob backward and bob back toward you, when you would then punch him again. I was never a fan of Popeye or punching anyone, as you might be able to tell from the image on the right. In fact, some of the memories I have of this toy was me hugging it in times of youngest-child-loneliness. That Popeye was a gift I never asked for but was somehow the best gift ever. My memories of it have never gone away and I remember playing with it (punching and hugging) for years. To this day, I still believe that sometimes the best gifts are not the things that you ask for, but the things that others see and know you will love."

Amy King and her favorite Christmas gift, 1974.

Read more memories!  2012 Holiday Memories Part 1 2012 Holiday Memories Part 2 2011 Holiday Memories 2010 Holiday Memories 2009 Holiday Memories 2008 Holiday Memories 2007 Holiday Memories 2006 Holiday Memories Part 2 2006 Holiday Memories Part 1