You can tell we’re in a holiday mood here in Media Reviews!
We learned how to make delicious Thanksgiving food with the cookbook “Thanksgiving 101.” There’s no need to feel intimidated by the big meal when you’ve got this handy guide.
Then we headed into the Christmas season with a look at the children’s picture book “The Christmas Candle,” about a young man who learned that he needed to turn to his family to find his true happiness. We visited Jeanne-Marie in France and saw how she celebrated her holiday season with “Noel for Jeanne-Marie,” and we read about a very un-traditional Christmas Eve with “Hannah’s Bookmobile Christmas.”
Laurie shared her favorite CD of Christmas music in “Winterlude: Instrumentals for a Contemplative Christmas,” which features such songs as “Silent Night,” “Oh, Come, Oh, Come, Emmanuel,” and “O Tannenbaum.” She also told us about her favorite cookie cookbook, originally published by Betty Crocker in the 1960s, which will help us find great new recipes for all our holiday baking needs.
“Jingle the Christmas Clown” and “Bear Noel” also made appearances, spreading cheer in their own unique ways, and we read a review of “The Greatest Christmas Pageant Ever,” which has to be one of the best Christmas storybooks ever.
We took a small departure from the Christmas season to discuss “What I Call Life,” the story of a girl who is placed for a short time in a foster care home and the things she learned from the other girls. We also read “The Green Glass Sea,” about the children who lived in Los Alamos while their parents worked to invent and then perfect the atomic bomb.
We read about the news magazine called “The Week,” and explored a world of fantasy in the young adult novel, “Fairest.” All in all, it’s been a terrific week and we hope you’ll join us again here in Media Reviews.