“Holidays with a Tail: A Tale of Winter Celebrations” is multicultural holiday story that appeals to culturally diverse juvenile audiences.
Written experienced elementary school teacher, Kelly Bouldin Darmofal, Holidays with a Tail begins the story with Alex on Christmas Eve, after having just moved from the suburbs to the city. Alex had wished for a Christmas gift of a puppy to play with. The next day brings one new surprise after another. Being Episcopalian, Alex celebrated Christian traditions in December, and he was overjoyed to find a puppy-sized box with holes in the lid for his present. Out popped Zipper, his new adorable golden puppy, his special Christmas gift.
The next day, when grandparents came bringing more Christmas gifts, Zipper surprised Alex by running out the door and into the snowy night. This begins a wonderful tale of exploration of ways different folk with different religious traditions celebrate the midwinter time of Solstice.
Zipper leads Alex and his mom, Katy on an exploration and traveling tour of festivities and homes, including four different families celebrating the Jewish Hanukkah, the Hindu Dwali, the Latina las Posadas, and the African American Kwanzaa. Each resident kindly explains the symbols and reasons for their celebrations, along with special foods and candle lighting customs and their significance.
Alex and Katy reclaim Zipper and eventually return to their home to celebrate Christmas dinner with their family and their special foods and gifts.
“Holidays with a Tail: A Tale of Winter Celebrations” is the perfect vehicle to explain to young children the wonderful richness and significance of different holiday celebration traditions for different cultures, peoples, and religions.
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Holidays With a Tail: A Tale of Winter Celebrations
Kelly Bouldin Darmofal, author
Brad A. Calhoun, illustrator
Loving Healing Press
5145 Pontiac Trail, Ann Arbor, MI 48105
www.LovingHealing.com
9781615996155, $17.95 PB, $29.95 HC, $4.95 Kindle, 34pp
Jennifer Bonn
I recently retired from teaching after forty years. During that time, I have tried to balance my writing, my teaching, and my family life. Retirement is offering me the chance to spend more time with my writing and I could not be more grateful. Let me tell you about my passion for writing.
My years in the classroom have taught me lessons I have used in my writing. One of the things that teaching has taught me is that everyone needs some encouragement, even when life is full of blessings. I enjoy providing that encouragement for both my students and my readers. Teaching also taught me the importance of community and relationships. I hope I can help readers find the way to build the community and life they need to be happy.
Writing has always been an activity that gives me peace. I tell people I am usually smiling when I am writing. My specialties are parenting, running, education, and self-help. I self-published a teaching guide called Stay Away from the Girl’s Bathroom. (The girl’s bathroom at my school was where all the drama happened, so you entered at your own risk.) I write monthly essays for my local media in two magazines and our newspaper. I have been published in a variety of magazines from Trail Runner to Atlanta Parents. I have a blog that you can reach at www.jenniferswriting.org, a Pinterest page that is found at https://www.pinterest.com/jenniferbonn, and I can be found at medium.com.
