Week 2 Readings- Alicia

My Week 2 Readings were-

How the Grinch Stole Christmas! by Dr Seuss & The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg

How the Grinch Stole Christmas!....need I say more?  This is one of my all time favorite books written by the great Dr Seuss.  It tells the story of a miserly grinch that lives in a cave 'Up on Mountt Crumpet' above a town called 'Whoville" which is filled with the festive cheer of the Whos.   For 53 years, the Grinch watched Christmas come and go and he thought this year....IT MUST STOP! The story then goes on to describe the misadventures of the grinch and how he tried to stop Christmas from coming....he strips Whoville of EVERYTHING Christmas...every tree, wreath, beast and crumb.  Happy of his triumph that cold winters night, he returned to Mount Crumpet to recount his plight.  To his sickening demise he heard the Whos singing...he had not stopped Christmas...what was he thinking!  Just at that moment, his heart began to grow and he filled with a warmth he never knew.  The Grinch has a change of heart and sleighs back down the mountain....mush Max...MUSH!  He finally arrives back down in Whoville where he returns all the things he stole the night before and is welcomed as the guest of honor to carve the roast beast.  This story is such a classic....for me it never gets old.  I love the rhyming of the narritive as it adds so much excitement when reading it, the words almost jump off the page.  This book also has a positive warm and fuzzy message about giving and sharing and shows how good it makes you feel to be included no matter how different you are. 



In keeping with the Christmas theme this week, the second book I read was The Polar Express.  This story takes place in the imagination of a little boy on Christmas Eve patiently waiting to hear the jingle of a bell...anything to indicate Santa had arrived to his house.  Instead of hearing sleigh bells, he hears 'a hissing steam and squeaking metal' (pg 1).  It was a train, not just any train....the Polar Express!!  The story takes us on a journey to the North Pole where Santa chooses one child from the train to give the first gift to.  This is where the little boy, who can choose anything he wants, asks Santa for a bell from his sleigh.  As the night progresses and dawn approaches the little boy is delivered back to his house, he realises he has lost his special gift.  As Christmas morning is now here, he and his sister open all their gifts, he finds a small box that contains the special bell.  The children reing the bell and hear the most amazing sounds...however the parents do not hear a thing.  This part of the story makes me sad as it shows how the magic of Christmas is lost as people grow up.  Except in the case of the little boy...he still to this day hears the sweet sounds when he shakes it as he knows exactly where it came from. 

This book is a nice story to read around Christmas time and can be included in a study of how different cultures celebrate this time of year.  The illustrations are very warm and hazy transporting the reader into a dream like state.