BOOK MARKED
Holiday Stories to
Warm Your Heart
14 Books That Celebrate the Season
BY LAUREN MARTINO, HEAD OF CHILDREN’S SERVICES,
MONTGOMERY COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARIES
This December, warm up with a hot beverage
and a good book! These holiday reads available at
Montgomery County Public Libraries will put you in the
spirit of the season—no matter what you celebrate.

PICTURE BOOKS
“Little Red Ruthie: a Hanukkah Tale”
by Gloria Koster, illustrated by Sue East-
land A hungry wolf wants to eat Little Red Ruthie! But
why not wait until she’s full from eight days of
eating Bubbe Basha’s latkes? And why not sample
some latkes himself? A little girl who’s brave like
the Maccabees fools a greedy wolf in this Hanuk-
kah take on Little Red Riding Hood.

“A Sled for Gabo”
by Emma Otheguy, illustrated by Ana
Ramirez Gonzalez
In a sea of pale blue-and-white winter books,
“A Sled for Gabo” glows warm and bright. Like
in Ezra Jack Keats’ “Snowy Day,” the red-or-
ange city sky and colorful houses provide a
cheerful backdrop to a boy exploring his neigh-
borhood-turned-winter-wonderland. Kind
English-and-Spanish speaking family and neigh-
bors help Gabo navigate his winter adventure
with bags over sneakers for boots, Dad’s hat, an
unexpected sled and multiple paths for a boy
feeling shy to make a friend.

“A Big Bed for Little Snow”
by Grace Lin
The look on Mommy’s face says it all. She’s tell-
ing Little Snow, “This bed is for sleeping, not
jumping,” but she knows what’s going to happen.

A snowflake pajama-clad little boy jumps and
jumps and jumps to an end that is as predicted,
but still surprising.

28 Washington FAMILY DECEMBER 2022
“The Christmas Cat”
by Maryann Macdonald, illustrated by
Amy June Bates
“Jesus was beautiful, like all babies. And like all
babies, he cried.”
Have you ever seen an illustration of the nativ-
ity story where Mary and Joseph are at all ruffled
at the demands of having a newborn? They are in
this book. You just want to hug them. They are
trying so hard. But it takes an irrepressible kit-
ten bounding onto Mary’s lap to stop the baby’s
tears—and kindle first friendship. Inspired by
Leonardo da Vinci’s drawings featuring the
Madonna of the Cat.

EARLY ELEMENTARY
“The People Remember”
by Ibi Zoboi, illustrated by Loveis Wise
Read this book aloud. It traces the story of the
African diaspora in verse, each epoch illustrating
a different principal of Kwanzaa. There’s a note
at the back about lighting the kinara and what
people do on each of the seven days of Kwanzaa.

But this book’s strength is in bringing to light the
rich, difficult and beautiful history of why this
holiday is celebrated. Well beyond December,
this is a great selection for Black History Month,
Poetry Month or nightly bedtime reading.

“The Christmas Mitzvah”
by Jeff Gottesfeld, illustrated by Michelle
Laurentia Agatha
“A mitzvah. A good deed. But also a command-
ment. What God wants.”



BOOK MARKED
Can you love a holiday you don’t celebrate? Al
Rosen loved Christmas but celebrated Hannukah.

In 1969, he offered to work for anyone who wanted
to spend Christmas with their families and kicked
off several decades of doing this for strangers,
inspiring others of all faiths to help their friends
and neighbors of different religions—sometimes
with hilarious results.

“Petals” by Gustavo Borges and Cris Peter
In this Brazilian import, a stranger comes to town,
faced with a spreading coughing illness and bad
news on the radio—sound familiar? Oddly prescient
for a book written in 2018. The stranger spreads
fun and healing with magic tricks and the petals of
a mysterious flower. But when the visitor falls sick
himself, a young boy looks for a way to return his
love and kindness. This (almost) wordless graphic
novel features anthropomorphic animals against a
snowy woodland backdrop for a sentimental, bitter-
sweet wintery journey.

“Weird but True! Christmas: 300 Festive
Facts to Light Up the Holidays
by National Geographic Kids
Did you know you could buy gingerbread-scented
dog shampoo? Or that hot chocolate was once used
as medication? Or that the amount of ribbon used
to wrap presents every Christmas is enough to tie a
bow around the whole planet? This colorful, engag-
ing book filled to the brim with fascinating tidbits is
handy for holiday conversation starters.

MIDDLE GRADE
“Dog Driven”
by Terry Lynn Johnson
McKenna has the chance to race her sled dogs over
a historic dogsled mail route to raise awareness for
Stargardt disease, which has caused her younger sis-
ter to lose her vision and her parents to become
overprotective. What her parents don’t know is that
McKenna, too, is starting to lose her vision from
the same disease. Historic letters punctuate a girl’s
struggle to lead her dogsled team to victory over
snow and ice and show her family, and herself, what
she’s capable of.

“The Forgotten Girl”
by India Hill Brown
When Iris and Daniel sneak out to make snow
angels one night, they don’t worry about Suga’s
snow spirits—they’re superstitions, right? Then
they find the forgotten grave of Avery, a girl that
starts haunting Iris’ dreams and forging a jeal-
ous, demanding friendship with her. Research for
a school project reveals that Avery’s grave is part
of a neglected African American cemetery and
Iris wants to help. Experiences at school have led
her to feel forgotten, too. But how far will Avery
go to be remembered? Will Daniel and his grand-
mother be able to save his best friend before it’s too
late? Ghost stories and history meld for a gripping
winter read.

“A Boy Called Christmas”
by Matthew Haig
Stay with evil Aunt Carlotta, or find the father who
left on a quest to prove the existence of elves? Thus
begins the journey of Niklaus—nicknamed Christ-
mas—a poor boy who can only remember receiving
two Christmas presents his entire life and who
only has a mouse and a reindeer for friends. Good
thing he believes in magic and has a good heart to
help him when he falls afoul of the head of the elf
council—whose members staunchly oppose out-
siders in his domain. He’ll need all the help he can
get. A wryly funny Santa origin story with explod-
ing troll heads, mischievous reindeer and a search
for one’s life purpose that should appeal to fans of
Roald Dahl and How to Train Your Dragon. Now a
Netflix film.

TEEN “Grand Theft Horse”
by G. Neri, illustrated by Corban Wilkin
Gail Ruffo always wanted a horse for Christmas.

She just never thought she would be stealing hers
back from her racing partners late one Christmas
Eve night. Author G. Neri recounts the true story
of his cousin: how she made a business deal with
an unscrupulous lawyer to purchase her first race-
horse, how that lawyer and his partners subjected
her horse to harsh training methods and drugs and
how she spent years dodging poverty, police and
private investigators, fighting a corrupt system that
values cash over horses’ wellbeing. This graphic
novel blends court drama, horse sense and a call to
activism to protect the animals whose bones line
“the path of human progress.”
“One Way or Another”
by Kara McDowell
Paige is paralyzed by decision-making. In her mind,
every choice she makes has the power to ruin her
life. When she must choose between the trip of a
lifetime to New York City with her mom or a cozy
getaway with her best friend/unwitting crush for
Christmas, there’s no way to pick—except to use
a Magic 8 Ball app and split her existence into two
separate universes so we the readers can follow the
consequences of each option. This fuzzy rom-com
book bends the possibilities of fiction and explores
life through the lens of anxiety.

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