Recently, I was asked to join a select group of bloggers as first official members of a program called the Scholastic Parent Circle. As such, I’ll be reviewing one book from Scholastic’s Club Leo selection every month, as well as giving a copy away.
I’m pretty excited about this opportunity because I’m always looking for quality and fun books in Spanish and we all know how hard those are to come by. We already have a nice collection of Spanish books that I’ve brought back from my travels to Peru, Mexico and Puerto Rico – where my family resides.
But Vanessa is in kindergarten and she’s starting to learn how to read, so her needs and likes are definitely changing. Not to mention that she’s starting to be extremely interested in science, especially the solar system. I’m looking forward to exploring Club Leo’s selections not only for Vanessa, but also for her little brother, Santiago, who adores cars.
Choosing December’s book was easy for obvious reasons, but also because Vanessa has started to ask a lot more questions about the meaning of Christmas. At a time when it’s easy to lose sight of what we’re really celebrating at the end of the month, it was refreshing to read the story told in Joanne Oppenheim’s “El milagro de la primera flor de Nochebuena: un cuento mexicano sobre la Navidad” (or The miracle of the first Poinsettia: a Mexican Christmas story).
Juanita is a little girl who’s father has lost his job and so they have no money for Christmas. Juanita’s main concern is not being able to take a gift to church to give to el Niño Jesús (Baby Jesus). On Christmas Eve – Nochebuena – she decides to stay outside the church as the entire town goes in for la Misa de Gallo (Midnight Mass). She’s sad about what’s going on in her family, but she’s also embarrassed.
Outside she hears a voice tell her to grab some weeds and take them inside the church and not to worry about how they look. Confused, Juanita follows the instructions and walks into the church with the weeds. By the time she gets to the altar, they have transformed into beautiful red flowers or poinsettias. Juanita learns that the best gifts are those given from the heart.
As the author explains at the end of the book, there are many version of this same story explaining the miracle of the first poinsettia and she was hooked as soon as she found out about it the first time.
I love that the story not only gives me an opportunity to talk about Christmas traditions – such as Nochebuena and Misa de Gallo – with Vanessa, but also about giving and how the size or the price of the gift has little importance. Not to mention that it’s great to remind my daughter what we’re really celebrating on Christmas.
The Giveaway
This giveaway is now closed. Congratulations to the winner: Cindy Lou!
We’re giving away one copy of “El milagro de la primera flor the Nochebuena” to one lucky winner.
To enter, all you have to do is leave us a comment telling us how you explain the meaning of Christmas (or the holiday you celebrate) to your little ones.
That’s all you have to do to enter this giveaway. If you want to up your chances at winning, then this is how you can get additional entries (only after you’ve completed the step above):
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This giveaway ends Sunday, December 11 at 11:59 p.m. EST and is open to everyone with a U.S. mailing address over 18 years of age. Check out the Giveaway Rules.
This looks like such a great book! It’s much easier to explain Christmas to my oldest whom we talk about kindness, family, and all that Jesus has done for us. Audrey has magic thoughts of snow, Christmas trees, playing with the little baby Jesus from our nacimiento and making cookies. I love hearing her “magic thoughts”. I have never been big on taking the kids to see Santa because I personally believe that it’s so much nicer to keep that magic inside.
This books sounds like a really great way to explain giving Christmas gifts from the heart and not the wallet. I’ve explained Christmas to my daughter with the story of the birth of Jesus and why he was sent to us.
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We explain the meaning of Christmas to our girls by reading the bible story, talking about it, and praying. I was just telling a friend though how much having children has opened my eyes to making sure I am explaining things to them rather than just assuming they know it all like we do.
Looks like a great book. We would love it. We explain Chistmas through the Bible. The meaning is staight forward and my kiddos enjoy it and love it.
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We read a story a night about Christmas. Usually it is a story about giving and it helps us keep our focus on the reason for the seaon.
I say that everyone celebrates Christmas differently, but these are the things we do – once they hear about the presents, that’s it!
We put up nacimientos, read plenty of books and participate in church functions! I love CHristmas
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Through the bible.
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Great give away and awesome site. We are looking to move to Austin soon and your post about bilingual schools is really helpful. Hope to be included in the book give away and I am now following your blog for sure. Thanks and Feliz Navidad!