Day One of The Twelve Days of Christmas with Pam from Bookalicious

In celebration of the upcoming holidays I thought there could be nothing better than sharing my favorite bloggers with my favorite readers! For the next twelve days I’ll be sharing posts written by my favorite bloggers about their favorite holiday reads. From food bloggers to book bloggers each one is one I’ve long loved reading and know you’ll enjoy as well. So sit back and enjoy!

Day One of the Twelve Days of Christmas kicks off with a brilliant author, book blogger and all around fabulous person Pam from Bookalicious! Pam has is part of a new anthology coming out in January titled UnCONventional. You won’t want to miss it! Not to mention an additional one coming next year as well as the book we’re working on together and much more. Pam is amazing and I’m positive you’ll see that from her post! So, without further hesitation on my part, Pam from Bookalicious…

Christmastime was always prime reading time for a me. You know the type. Pale, a little too well read, the inside kid who spent hours agonizing over twenty minutes of homework. The winter break was a time to read for fun, stimulate my love for general reading geekery and hide from my cousins who wanted to play football in the snow. Still to this day I scoff at their tomfoolery.

Danielle invited me her to talk to you today about the books I loved when I was a ickle nerdling. So thank you Danielle, for letting me wax poetic about time gone by.

There was one story I read yearly, and still to this day read yearly to my not-so-pale / not-so-inside-kid-kids. We love it dearly, and I credit this story for giving me the imagination and Peter Pan-esque attitude I have today.

The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen is told in seven parts. There are seven beautifully heartbreaking and cautionary tales inside one story and it has always and forever will be a favorite of mine. As a child, reading this story felt like every word was written just for me. Every story a cautionary tale. The grass is always greener, ice queens are bad, be a warmer person. Help thy neighbor and stay way from swans. Okay so maybe I didn’t get the swan part, but still staying away from swans is a good idea. Those things bite.

While I realize this isn’t the most holiday themed book. I think that the themes support reading it during the holidays. I learned so much about being a good person and the holiday’s to me is all about being a better person and helping those who are less fortunate.

This year we will be adding Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu to the mix. Breadcrumbs is a retelling of The Snow Queen and it is also told in parts, however this new version is MG novel length and deals with a great many issues. Divorce, friendship, bullying and being the not white kid in an adopted family.

While we will still be reading The Night Before Christmas, sipping hot chocolate and singing Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, we will also be learning so much about our world and how to live in it. How to be a productive/responsible/friendly addition to this planet we live on, and how to be sensitive to the needs of others.

Cautionary tales make for wonderful holiday reads.

And remember, stay away from swans. Oh, and keep off my grass while you are at it.

Have you ever read The Snow Queen? Did you love it as much as I do?