Customer Reviews

Home for Christmas

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Home for Christmas tells the story of a naughty troll who doesn't want to do his chores. After a brief visit to some other families (owls,otters, moose, and bears), he learns that his family was pretty great after all! When he learns his lesson and loses his tail, something that happens to all GOOD, helpful little trolls, he joins his family for a lavish Christmas celebration that is beautifully illustrated with Brett's trademark detail.

It's impossible to look at a Jan Brett creation and not marvel at the artistic skill on display. The illustrations for Home for Christmas are as beautiful as ever, with enough sidebars, embellishments and flourishes to keep kids coming back for more. Unfortunately the storytelling is not all that spectacular or original, so this is not one of my Brett favorites. Our troll learns a good lesson, and it is a heartwarming tale for Christmas, but it just didn't have the impact I was expecting. This is a must have for the Brett enthusiasts out there, just not my first choice for Christmas.

We bought this at a Jan Brett book signing and haven't stopped reading it since. My almost-4-year-old asks me to read this to her at least twice a day! She really identifies with Rollo and wants to be a troll for next Halloween. We love looking at the pictures and the beautiful insets for which Jan Brett is famous. "It has wonderful illustrations and perfect storytelling" (from my 7 year old). "What I like about it is that I really love the pictures - they're so beautiful" (from my 3 year old). Our favorite bits: check out the pig's ear-hat and the cat's toy at the end. A definite warm-hearted must for the holiday season!

This is the charming story of Rollo, a naughty young troll, who runs away from home in order to evade his chores, has some wonderful adventures with a variety of northern animals, and learns the value of family and kindness. The story closes with a beautiful Scandinavian Christmas celebration. Each page is rich with detail and brings alive its Swedish folklore setting. It's also a wonderful introduction to the lives of northern animals: owls, bears, otters, lynx, and moose.

Jan Brett's illustrations are as magnificent as ever. Each page has an intricate birchbark "frame," with smaller pictures tucked into the side of the frame which point to other parts of the story. They're perfect illustrations for allowing the child to help tell the story: much of the detail one notices in the illustrations isn't repeated in the text. While the storyline is more predictable than The Hat or The Mitten, it's charming and good for reading aloud.

Curl up with your child and some mugs of cider and enjoy this book together on a long winter evening.

I'm a huge fan of Ms. Brett. Her artwork is fantastic and so full of living detail. In this book, she teaches the lesson that everyone needs to help at home to make things work right. When the little boy decides that it would be nicer to run away from home than have to do chores, he finds out that it's not that easy on your own. Brett's books usually always have a main storyline going on across two pages and the sub-story going on in the pictures in the margins. I don't actually buy these books for kids anymore as much as I collect them for myself. This is a must have for every child and child-at-heart on your Christmas list. Fall in love with Jan Brett like I have and you'll have to get all her books, too.

I was very pleased with the quality of the item and the time that it took to receive it in the mail!

This is a beautiful Christmas book to share with "kids" of all ages. Jan Brett is GREAT!! Thanks for the great customer service from Amazon!!

Home For Christmas by Jan Brett

Summary: A wild little troll runs away from home because he doesn't want to do his chores. Rollo tries living with various woodland animals, but he finds out that there is no place like home, and returns to his family just in time for "the best Christmas ever."

Among the animals who take him in are an owl family, a mother bear and two rambunctious cubs, some playful river otters, a hungry lynx and a friendly moose family.

What I like about the book: I loved the illustrations. I always love Brett's illustrations. Not only is Home For Christmas full of Brett's trademark illustrations it also contains a valuable lesson on kindness and responsibility. In true picture book fashion, as much of the story is told in the pictures as in the text. We see Rollo's adventures in the main pictures and text while seeing his family's story in the heart shaped vignettes included in the borders of the pages. This is a great holiday picture book for readers of all ages.

What I didn't like about the book: LOVED it all!

Recommended for pre-school and up.

AR Reading Level: Not an AR book as of November 28, 2011

Mrs. Archer's rating: 5 of 5! I have already added this to my next book order for the school library.

Jan Brett delievers another great story with beautiful pictures. My family still buys all of her books even though everyone has grown up!

I'm a big fan of Jan Brett's books. Her illustrations are absolutely incredible!
I especially love the way she shows what's happening next , with her side illustrations.
Home for Christmas is a cleverly written story. The illustrations did not disappoint.
Children will delight in both the story and illustrations!

There are a lot of echoes in this book, like riffs picked up from earlier, much beloved children's books. Rollo, our hero, is a wild troll whose tail will certainly never drop off because he is not "kind". (Like an angel earning wings.) He won't do his chores. He runs away from his troll family up into the mountain.

Here Brett really works her magic. The troll tucks himself into bed with a family of owls until they kick him out; he moves in with some bears until he's stung by bees; he swims with otters until ice freezes over on the water; he plays with a lynx until it stares giving him the hungry eye. We all yearn to be Rollo as we read, to live with the animals in similar Jungle Book style, and the pitfalls he encounters just make his adventures seem that much realistic, the stuff of children's dreams.

But finally, just as Max gave up being king of where the Wild Things are because "he smelled good things to eat" and "wanted to be where someone loved him best of all", Rollo smells wood smoke from his home fire, remembers his family yearningly, and heads home. Where, having learned his lesson, he reforms his naughty ways, does his chores, and succeeds in losing his tail.

As always, Brett's illustrations are gorgeous. If the reform of a naughty young male creature is a somewhat tired plotline, the tale of Rollo's adventures with the animal families on the mountain are wonderfully seductive and beautifully imagined. As to whether or not this is the Perfect Christmas book or not, that would all depend on the reader's notion of what a perfect Christmas was. I think "singing and telling stories far into the night" certainly qualifies.