Customer Reviews

Deck the Hall: A Traditional Carol

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This beautiful little book should be a part of every child's Yuletide celebration. The text consists of the words to the Old Welsh traditional carol, "Deck the Hall" and as such comes equipped with plenty of merry holiday ambiance and the illustrations of Sylvia Long make the carol into a magical Yuletide treasure. A loving family of rabbits celebrates the season together with Mama, Papa and their little son hanging the yew garlands, the colored lights,and ornaments (including the special carrot ornament of course!) and getting all dressed up in their gay apparel for a worship service complete with carolling. They cuddle together before the blazing Yule fire, enjoy hot steaming mugs of hot cocoa and have fun cutting out cookies together. The little boy gets flour on the red flannel sleeves of his Dr. Dentons as he carefully works the star cookie cutter and Mama looks on encouragingly. The family strings popcorn, cranberries and nuts to trim the pine tree outdoors for the birds and tiny wreaths of suet and seeds are tied on with crimson ribbons. Bundled up in their soft warm jammies the family reads a Yuletide story before Mama and Papa tuck their little son into bed beneath a charming patchwork quilt. They stand snuggled together in the doorway, looking lovingly at their beautiful sleeping boy. Excitment abounds as the presents are opened in the morning and a fun-filled day of ice-skating, sledding and making snow angels begins. Fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la!
I really love this little jewel of a book and I think you will, too.

We bought this book for our 8 month old son around the holidays. He loved looking at the pictures as we sang Deck the Halls. Typical of Sylvia Long's work, the illustrations are very detailed and are very engaging to both children and adults alike. When we were not reading the book, we kept it on display on the piano, making a great decoration, as well! I can't wait to pull it out during the holidays next year!

I didn't think the illustrations were as cute as I'd hoped - the rabbits just look odd to me. But they are certainly better than average, and most important, I bought it for my baby and she loves it. She's 11 months old and wants mom and dad to read (sing) this book to her over and over. I expect this will be a treasured part of her childhood memories of Christmas for life, and it does introduce her to traditional Christmas images (yule log, Christmas tree, carol singing, winter bird feeding, cookie making, playing in the snow) that we'll share as a family.