Today’s favorite books are also Honeybee favorites. Preschoolers LOVE Presents Through the Window by Taro Gomi and Gyo Fujikawa’s illustrations are so appealing to that age group as well. Neither is available at bookshop.org so definitely call your local bookstore to see if they can order them for you!

The Night Before Christmas is the standard Clement C. Moore poem but when it is paired with these images of babies getting ready for bed on Christmas Eve, the poem becomes more appealing to young children. I’ve always loved Fujikawa’s books, but after reading this picture book biography of her, it made me appreciate her books in a new way. She was a strong advocate in the 60’s for racial diversity in children’s books and as a Japanese-American woman, knew it was important for children to see illustrations of kids that looked like themselves in their books.

Presents Through the Window by Taro Gomi is so clever and fun. The preschool classes request this book constantly in the month of December and I’m happy to oblige. The illustrations tell the story of Santa as he is delivering gifts to animals in the village. He peeks through the window and assumes that he knows which animal lives there, but gets it wrong every time, leaving a gift that, at first glance, isn’t appropriate for the receiver. The book ends when the creatures wake up and open their gifts, and its a sweet surprise that the gifts turn out to be just right for each.

* I am not being paid or compensated in any way for these reviews. I’m not an affiliate with Bookshop.org, I just firmly believe that we need to support local business right now more than ever!