The Days After Christmas

July 29, 2024
Rudd’s relatable second-person rhymes reflect on the quiet days after Christmas festivities, resulting in this gentle spin on the usual yuletide fare. A hint of melancholy emerges in early lines that describe the process of reverting to normalcy: farewells are said, decorations get boxed up, and the fridge is cleaned out. “You remember before/ when it was just beginning.// Now it all seems too finished,// too over, too ending.” Before sadness sets in, though, cozy moments and time outdoors in the snow invigorate—just the reset needed to help everyone cherish holiday memories while looking ahead. Mapping closely to the text, Chavarri’s jewel-colored renderings follow several families, depicted with a range of skin tones, as they move through the post-Christmas period and relish the remaining residue of holiday cheer. A craft concludes. Ages 3–6.

August 1, 2024
Families enjoy the quiet after Christmas. Christmas chaos has led to post-Christmas calm in this story that sees racially diverse families cleaning up, quietly enjoying toys, and appreciating nature. The smiling children of each family help tidy and sip cocoa with nary a meltdown. Rudd's simple but uneven rhymes in a flexible ABCB pattern anchor the quotidian days. Singular words are rhymed with plurals, and attempts at slant rhymes fall flat; sometimes the language becomes unnecessarily repetitive: "Now it all seems too finished, / too over, too ending." Chavarri's art, too, is greeting-card cheery and wrapping-paper ready. The illustrations of holiday memories that open and close the book are generic gift boxes, pine trees, and candy canes rather than specific toys or holiday foods. The tale lacks a central family or character for readers to follow. The strongest scene is a three-spread sequence set outdoors when children hang birdseed ornaments for critters and play in the snow. There, the narrative includes a rhyme that works: "You tromp through the woods-- / jumping rocks, watching birds-- / and find magic in nature / without noise, without words"--a lovely way for families to experience the post-holiday doldrums. A tree-trimmed holiday narrative that doesn't hang together. (directions for birdseed ornaments, other ideas for activities after Christmas)(Picture book. 3-6)

COPYRIGHT(2024) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

September 1, 2024

Toddler-PreS-While many Christmas books describe various things that families do leading up to Christmas, this book is the opposite: it depicts what different families do after Christmas Day has passed. A young girl with blonde hair wakes up in the morning with memories of Christmas floating in her head. On the next spread, two children with brown skin sit and ponder quietly, while the father prepares breakfast for them. Subsequent spreads continue introducing different families and showing how they adjust to the end of Christmas. Some start to take down the Christmas tree. Some children go outside to play in the snow, and others say goodbye to their grandparents. One spread shows a family packing up Christmas decorations while getting out New Year's and Valentine's Day ones. Harmonious words and breathtaking illustrations depict diverse families. This story shows children that after the holidays, life continues. Back matter includes instructions for creating birdseed ornaments, which are shown earlier in the story. VERDICT A great pick for children's library collections.-Annmarie Braithwaite

Copyright 2024 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.