A quick visit to a much-loved classic is always time well-spent. I'm now inspired to re-read the entire series!

I'm a bit biased towards the original so my rating is tempered somewhat by my loyalty to Laura Ingalls Wilder. Nonetheless, I do believe, had this series been my first introduction to the Little House books I would have enjoyed and appreciated their value. The colorful pictures and small amount of wording make this a good alternative for young readers not yet at a level to read the original series on their own.

Loved this simple tale of Christmas in the woods!!

If you loved Little House in the Big Woods as a child, but your child is too young yet for chapter books, this is a good start. I loved the illustrations!

I love the Little House books. I love Christmas. Therefore, when I was watching a Hallmark Christmas movie and saw Christmas in the Big Woods flashed on screen, it was a no-brainer. I purchased it within five seconds.

Christmas in the Big Woods is part of the family My First Little House Books, directed at the age 4-8 crowd. It is culled from the Christmas story in Little House in the Big Woods and adorned with warm illustrations patterned off the classic artwork done by Garth Williams. The night it arrived at our doorstep, it garnered immediate interest from my two older children: Emilia (Millie) who is almost six; and Gracie (Grapey) who is three. I didn't plan on reading it to them immediately, since it was already pretty late. But when Gracie asked me to read “The Christmas Woods Book,” I could not resist.

As most of you know, I’m not a prolific reviewer of children’s books. I have, in fact, only ever done this once before. That was last year, when I attempted to enlist the support of Emilia and Grace in reviewing The Kraken’s Rules for Making Friends, which they received as a gift. The results were mixed. Nevertheless, I am back at it, because as the old saying goes: Even when you have utterly failed, you should try again.

So, once again, I conducted a joint interview for this book review. They did not receive any compensation for their participation, save getting to stay up roughly 45 minutes later than usual. Without further ado, I present for your consideration, Emilia & Grace Review Christmas in the Big Woods.


Meet your reviewers: Grace (L) is three; Emilia (R) is nearing six. Phoebe, aged one, was not present, but we might have woken her up

(Reviewers Note: This interview with my children has been edited for clarity. Heavily edited. Painstakingly edited. You might even say that “clarity” is an artificial construct that I conjured from the chaos of this exercise).

[Emilia and Grace have just gotten bunk beds, so the inaugural reading of Christmas in the Big Woods takes place in my bed. We get through one page before Grace gets up to leave].

ME: Where are you going?
GRACE: I need to get my blankie.
ME: You can get under the covers.
GRACE: I want my blankie.
[Grace returns with her blanket, along with a stuffed Tala from The Lion King].
ME: Are you ready?
GRACE: I need to get cozy.
[Grace situates herself on the bed, and then spends a minute propping up Tala on a pillow. I faintly recall the reason I don’t do more joint book reviews. I continue reading. About halfway through the book, the girls start arguing about which characters they resemble].

EMILIA: Laura has bangs like me.
GRACE: Millie, I can’t really see your bangs right now.
EMILIA: Grace! Don't talk to me.
GRACE: Millie! You don't talk to me!
ME: Both of you stop.
EMILIA: Is this part of the interview?
ME: No.

[Around this point, Grace gets up again and leaves].

ME: What are you doing?
GRACE: I want to get a blanket for my stuffed animal because she’s cold. I’m going to name her a different name. I’m going to call her Laura.
EMILIA: Her name is Tala.
GRACE: Her name is Laura. No! It’s Belle.
ME: Do we want to stop for the night?
GRACE: Her name is Belle.
ME: Fine.

[Somehow, by the grace of God, we manage to get through this 32 page book. I pull out my legal pad and pen].

ME: I was thinking that we should do an interview about this book, like we did with the kraken book. Does that sound okay.
EMILIA: No. I mean yes.
GRACE: Yes, I do too.
ME: Okay. Did you like it?
EMILIA: We like the shark smiling. [This refers to The Kraken’s Rules for Making Friends]
ME: No, we’re going to talk about this book. Good memory though.

[At this point, Emilia tries to take my legal pad].

EMILIA: Can I try to read it?
ME: When I’m done.
EMILIA: Can I spell their names?
ME: You can spell one of their names.
EMILIA: [Spells out J-A-C-K. It seems to take ten minutes, but probably only took three].
ME: All right. Now, did you guys like this Laura book?
EMILIA: Yes.
GRACE: Yes, but I want to name the cat. [In the book, there is a nameless and unmentioned cat that nevertheless keeps turning up in the illustrations. This led to a lot of questions].
EMILIA: What about Nina?
GRACE: I want to call it –
EMILIA: Write down that we called it Nina!
GRACE: I want to call it Mina.
EMILIA: That’s not a name.
ME: I think it is.

[There is an off-topic discussion about this for a couple minutes. I attempt to take notes on the Nina/Mina debate. Emilia sees me writing furiously].

EMILIA: I want to write a question.
ME: How about this. Why don’t you tell me what question I should ask you.
EMILIA: How deep was it?
ME: How deep was the book?
EMILIA: How deep was the snow?

[After this colloquy, Emilia asks about the two dots I keep putting next to the first letters of their names. This leads us to a hopeless tangent as I attempt to explain a colon. I give up, and promise to revisit the subject later, perhaps as she's about to go off for college].

ME: What was your favorite part of the book?
EMILIA: I liked when the cousins came over. And can you write who my favorite character was?
ME: Who was that?
EMILIA: Mary.
ME: Why Mary?
EMILIA: She’s the oldest, like me.
GRACE: My favorite is Laura.
ME: Why is she your favorite?
GRACE: She’s the youngest, like me!
ME: Isn’t Carrie the youngest? [I suggest this gently].
GRACE: Yeah. Phoebe [the one year-old] likes Carrie. In the morning, I’m going to ask Phoebe what her favorite character was.

[Unfortunately, I had to get to work early the next morning. I was not around to determine whether Grace ever asked Phoebe about a character she’s never heard of in a book she’s never seen. Her answer, of course, would have been ‘Momma’, ‘Dada’, ‘baba’, or ‘uh-oh’].

EMILIA: Where was Ma when she had Carrie?
ME: Probably in the cabin. They didn't have hospitals where they lived.
EMILIA: No. I mean was she in a chair or in bed. I think she was in bed.
ME: Probably.

[I am tempted to probe her mind in order to determine the genesis of the question. Seeing no good outcome, however, I resist the urge].

ME: Grace, what was your favorite part?
GRACE: I like the part when the cousins were going home.
ME: Why?
GRACE: I don’t know.
EMILIA: Actually I think that was a sad part. That’s why I said my favorite part was when they came over.
GRACE [undeterred]: I like when they ate breakfast.
ME: What did you like about the breakfast scene?
GRACE: I don’t know.
EMILIA: I think she means the pancakes.
GRACE: Pancakes!
EMILIA: Can I write periods for you?
ME: Maybe later.

[After mostly striking out with generalized questions, I decide to focus their attention a bit].

ME: Did you like the pictures?
EMILIA: We loved them.
GRACE: We liked them and they’re good pictures.
ME: What was your favorite picture in the book?
EMILIA: The snow and the woods and the cousins playing outside.
GRACE: The cousins playing in the snow.

ME: Is there a lesson?
EMILIA: To be grateful for what you got.
ME: For what you have.
EMILIA: For what you have.
GRACE: I don’t know.

[Last year, I explained the star-rating system to Emilia and Grace. I decided to test their recall, and was pleasantly surprised].

ME: How many stars would you give this?
EMILIA: Five. Actually ten.
ME: Five is the most you can give.
GRACE: Three!
EMILIA: It’s not the number it’s how much you liked it. One means you little-liked it; two means you kinda did and kinda not; three means a little bit; four means you liked it; five means you liked it a lot.
GRACE: I liked it five.
ME [to Emilia]: You did a good job remembering the star system.
EMILIA: I didn't remember it. I saw it on YouTube.
ME: I thought you weren’t supposed to be watching YouTube.
EMILIA: [Laughs uncomfortably]

ME: How would you explain this in one word?
EMILIA: “A lot”
GRACE: Let’s do five.
ME: Okay, what five words would you use?
GRACE: I don’t know.
ME: I want you to describe this book in one word. Like fun, or silly, or funny, or sad. Okay? What word would that be?
EMILIA: Fun.
GRACE: Yeah, fun.

ME: If you had to give a description of what this book is about, what would that be?
EMILIA: Coming together and having fun on Christmas.
ME: That’s good.
GRACE: I like that too. I like that thing that Millie said.

[At this point, I end the interview. It's late and it's difficult to write with Emilia grabbing the pen].

ME: Let’s go to bed.
GRACE: I can’t sleep.
ME: You’re not in bed yet.
GRACE: Can I sleep here?
EMILIA: Yeah!
ME: No.

Christmas in the Big Woods is a charming little book that nicely captures the Little House spirit in bite-size fashion. It is a simple story centered on fundamental values, which has always been the main draw of the series. At this time of year, it makes for a decent and helpful teaching tool.

It’s easy for kids to lose perspective during the Christmas season. Heck, it’s easy for adults. I lost perspective years ago! Emilia and Grace are no exception. They are inundated with commercials; their friends from school keep regaling them with stories of Elf on the Shelf; and their lists for Santa keeps growing and growing. When things reach a fever pitch, I will remind them that Laura was perfectly content with a rag doll named Charlotte.

That lesson, of course, will last thirty seconds, if I’m having a lucky day. More importantly, I hope this book plants the seeds of a lifelong love of Pa, Ma, Mary, Laura, Carrie, and Jack the Bulldog.

L received this for Christmas from Santa, the first of many (I hope) of these awesome picture books inspired by the writing of the person she is named after. Love it! PS She names her rag doll Charlotte!!

Simplified mini-stories that are drawn from the "Little House" series that are best for read-alouds and early readers. Renee Graef's illustrations are warm and colorful, inspired by the Garth Williams' originals.

*reread as part of yearly holiday book collection review*

Had to read this book for a course about writing for children. It would make a nice book to read to children for Christmas. There was some awkward written sentences which is why I gave it four stars. I liked the history of the story and think I will check out more Laura Ingalls books.

Call me old-fashioned but this type of Christmas seems the best to me.

The family focuses on making the holiday special just by being together.

Mom is busy all day cooking and baking all sorts of yummies for their Christmas dinner.

Laura and her family,including her cousins, spend the day outside enjoying the snow and jut being together.

And they are thrilled to discover that in each stocking is a pair of bright red mittens and a peppermint candy cane.

Laura gets an extra special surprise with a beautiful rag doll she names Charlotte!

I grew up on the Laura Ingalls Wilder books and still enjoy sharing them with the little ones in my care.

4 1/2 - a nice read for Christmas. The longer versions in the novels are better but this was a fun read and made O want to read the series all over again.

I read this book when I was little and I recall the story being very good, but to this day I still remember how wonderful I thought the illustrations.

Novel·la que comença bé però va perdent interès així que passen les pàgines. Molt bon context de sortida, poble fronterer, relacions entre banda i banda, escola repressiva, polítics locals corruptes,... però és una falsa alarma, el llibre acaba essent un baliga-balaga sense rumb, on només els apartats d'alt contingut eròtic tenen el seu interès.