A German immigrant family move to a small New England town still dominated by the Puritan ethos in this lovely picture book from author/illustrator Tomie dePaola. Although no one in their new town celebrates Christmas in any visible way, the family are not deterred, making all of the necessary preparations—creating bayberry candles, gathering foodstuffs, carving a Nativity scene, making decorations, choosing a Christmas tree and greens, baking many kinds of cookies—in order to celebrate in their traditional way. With the house beautifully prepared, the family gather on Christmas Eve night to read the story of Jesus' birth from the Bible, and to sing their songs. Neighbors, listening and watching this odd "Christmas Family," are eventually inspired to adopt some of their traditions...

As a long-time fan of Tomie dePaola's work, I was not surprised to find myself enjoying An Early American Christmas immensely, although I do regret encountering it first as an adult, as I believe my childhood self would have loved it even more! I greatly enjoyed the way in which dePaola chronicled all of the many customs and activities engaged in by the family, and I found the overall theme of the book—an immigrant family bringing their own holiday customs to a new land, changing that land's customs for the better (I believe!)—both inspiring and valuable. Many young children today might not be aware that many of the customs we associate with Christmas today, here in the states, were not observed by many of our earliest settlers, particularly in New England. dePaola's book therefore provides an important history lesson, in addition to spinning a charming holiday tale, and teaching the value that immigrants can bring to their new countries. The accompanying artwork here, done in trademark dePaola style (one would recognize his illustrations anywhere!), is every bit as delightful as the story, making this a wonderful package, overall. Recommended to picture book readers looking for Christmas stories with a historical, American setting. ( )

The creatures don't want to review this book. They'd rather eat it and I had to remind them that it is a library book and therefore not to be damaged in any way. They still want to eat it and I had to throw hay at them to distract them. Well, the guinea pigs anyway. The Rabbit didn't care at all. ( )

Charming overview of German immigrant Christmas traditions in old New England. No nativist conflict is depicted, though it's mentioned in the Author's Note. Instead, the concluding pages show the community at large embracing the imported traditions. ( )

A family has just moved from Germany to a small village in America. They are the only family in the village who celebrate Christmas. The book describes and illustrates all the beautiful traditions that this family has. Each year, more and more people of the village begin celebrating Christmas until the whole village celebrates together!
I noticed that the illustrations were different in this book than in ones I previously read. There were more colors, and the pictures seemed brighter. Many of the illustrations were also placed against a white background, which drew my attention straight to the picture. The illustrations in this book really captured my attention and made me want to continue reading.
I am not sure that this would be appropriate in a classroom, unless it was used as a history lesson because of the religion involved. However, I think it would be a very interesting book for students to read and gain an understanding of how Christmas used to be celebrated. I personally was not aware of many of the traditions that this book introduced me too, and I really liked getting to see how people used to celebrate Christmas. ( )

An Early American Christmas is the story of new family moving to a New England town and bringing their tradition of celebrating Christmas with them. This is a good book to teach about accepting new people into a community and honoring their traditions. ( )