The 12 Days of Christmas & Other Winter Holiday Picture Books for Kids – Day 12

<BR><font size=2><em>Reviewed by Amy M. O’Quinn for the National</em> Writing for Children Center

<img src=’http://writingforchildrencenter.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/messey-besseys-holidays-book-image.gif’ align="left"alt=’Messy Bessy’s Holidays’ /><strong>Title:</strong> <em>Messey Bessy’s Holidays</em>
<strong>Written by:</strong> Patricia and Frederick McKissack
<strong>Illustrated by:</strong> Dana Regan
<strong>Hardback:</strong> 30 pages
<strong>Ages:</strong> 4-8
<strong>Publisher:</strong> Children’s Press (CT) (September 1999)
<strong>ISBN-10:</strong> 0516264761
<strong>ISBN-13:</strong> 978-0516264769

<em>Messey Bessey’s Holidays</em>, by Patricia and Frederick McKissack, is a very cute rhyming book in the <em>Rookie Reader</em> series by Children’s Press (a division of Scholastic). It’s a small book that is easy to handle for young readers, and the colorful illustrations of Bessey making a mess in her kitchen as she bakes cookies for her friends and neighbors will delight little ones!

Bessey and her mother want to do something special for their neighbors to celebrate all the holidays in December. But what can they do to include Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, and the upcoming New Year, because their neighbors celebrate different holidays? They decide to bake cookies, but these will be SPECIAL cookies!

Each cookie will tell a different story. They will bake menorah shaped cookies to celebrate the Jewish festival of lights. They will bake happy angel shaped cookies to celebrate the birth of Christ for Christmas. And they will bake cookies to celebrate the African-Americans’ Kwanzaa week of community sharing where families gather to feast and learn through the seven ways of caring. There will be cookies for everyone! Because as Bessey knows, ‘menorahs, candles, fruits, and bells are signs of the holidays.’ And people all over celebrate the holidays in different ways!

<em>Messey Bessey’s Holidays</em> is also a great little book for teaching responsibility. Bessey learns that when she makes a mess while baking, she must clean up after herself and keep the kitchen a safe and clean place. What a great lesson!

Bessy’s cookies are great to share with her family and friends. Moreover, as the last page states, “Christmas, Kwanzaa, and Chanukah, no matter what the reason, here’s a gift from Bess to you to celebrate the season. In addition, there is a recipe for decorated sugar cookies at the end in case young readers want to bake cookies to celebrate the holiday season themselves. Overall, this is a wonderful book to share with young children to introduce different holidays celebrated by people everywhere!

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<strong>Amy M. O’Quinn</strong> is a pastor’s wife and former schoolteacher-turned-homeschool mom of six. She is also a freelance writer who enjoys jotting down ideas around the fringes of family life. She specializes in non-fiction, and her work has been published or acquired by magazines including <em>Jack and Jill, US Kids, Guideposts for Kids, Learning Through History Magazine, Highlights, GEORGIA Magazine, Homeschooling Today, International Gymnast</em>, etc. She is also a product/curriculum/book reviewer for <em>The Old Schoolhouse Magazine</em> and a regular columnist for <em>TEACH Magazine</em>. The O’Quinns live on the family farm in rural south Georgia. You can find Amy’s blog, Ponderings From Picket Fence Cottage, at <a href="http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/picketfencemom">http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/picketfencemom</a>.