Midwest Book Review on “Holidays With a Tail”

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.

Read the original review on MBR


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

More Than A Memory: Reflections of Viet Nam

978-1-932690-64-4
$21.95
In stock
1
Product Details
UPC: 978-1-932690-64-4
Brand: Modern History Press

A Conflict that Shaped A Generation

Four decades on, the legacy of American involvement in the Viet Nam War still looms large in the lives of the veterans who experienced it first hand. This new anthology of poems, stories, and essays looks at the war through the lens of both past and present perspectives.

Featuring the work of fifteen veteran writers, the scope of the book defines how modern warfare affects the lives of those who lived it and subsequently their own families after returning from the war. The men who have contributed to this volume each have played their own part whether medic, air cavalry, recon, forward observer, or just plain grunt. The pain they felt, witnessed, and buried can hopefully be released by the telling of their collective truths.

It is their hope that through this book you will be able to feel something of what they have felt and that it will inform you about the role that this conflict continues to play in the lives of those who served there. The words of William Faulkner still ring true: "The past is not dead, it's not even past."

Acclaim for More Than A Memory

"For those old hands wanting to see and hear how others have made some
sense of it in words--perhaps for inspiration to write some of their own--and
for those newbies wanting to understand and relate as much as possible to
that experience, I recommend this new volume wholeheartedly."
--Michael Gillen, PhD,
Professor, Vietnam and Modern America, Pace University

"Poignant and heartrending as it is, More Than A Memory is a work of great
courage and optimism, of triumph against all odds and amidst the horrors, of
resurrection and renewal. It is nothing short of uplifting."
--Sam Vaknin, PhD, author of Malignant Self-Love

"There seems to be no end to the stories veterans of the Vietnam War need
and want to tell and there should be no end to the readiness of the rest of us
to read, to listen, and more importantly, to learn. More Than A Memory is a welcome
addition to the literature of the war and its ongoing consequences."
--Marilyn B. Young, PhD, Dept. of History, NYU

"If you want to understand a conflict, look into the hearts of the men who
fought it. More than a Memory does that and reveals a legacy that should stand
as a warning to people who would remake the world in their own vision."
--Trish Wood, investigative journalist, and author of the critically acclaimed What Was Asked of Us: An Oral History of the Iraq War by the Soldiers Who Fought It

More from the contributors at www.ReflectionsOfVietnam.com

"More Than a Memory: Reflections of Viet Nam" is the newest book in the Reflections of America series from Modern History Press www.ModernHistoryPress.com

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