December Books, Day 31: Happy New Year

Art Attack Christmas Cracker / Art Attack Cracking New Year, 1999 Mammoth Books

The Crane Maiden, by Miyoko Matsutani, illustrated by Chihiro Iwasaki. Parent's Magazine Press, 1968. (Previously published in Japanese.)

Angelina Ice Skates, by Katharine Holabird, illustrations by Helen Craig. 1993/2001.

There are hundreds of Christmas books--but how many New Year's books can you name? Here are three of ours.

This isn't the cover of the book--I couldn't find an image online and don't have a camera available to take my own photo.  But it's similar.  Art Attack: Cracking New Year is one half of a flip-it-upside-down book (the other half is Christmas Cracker).  Want to make a shiny shaker? Funky frames?  Rainbow thank-yous?  All the crafts are drawn step by step, and patterns are included at the end.

For those of you who don't get TVOntario or who have never watched Art Attack, here's a You-tube clip with Neil Buchanan demonstrating a Christmas tree craft.

The Crane Maiden might not come to mind as a New Year's story; it's a Japanese folk tale about the bad results of too much curiosity.  But it does take place at Japanese New Year, which is the same as ours, January 1st. 

Pausing only long enough to buy rice for rice cakes, a kimono for Tsuru-san and a few delicacies for New Year's Day, the man hurried home with his pockets jingling.  "Tomorrow, tomorrow is the New Year's Day," he sang.  "The New Year is the happy time, eating rice cakes whiter than snow, drinking sake that is smoother than oil."

Then such a hustle and bustle there was, as the old man and his wife prepared for the feast....

Everyone in the village was getting ready for New Year's Eve, and Angelina was preparing a special ice skating show.  Her little cousin Henry wanted to be in the show, too, even though he often tumbled off the ice and fell into the snowbanks.

Maybe not literature that will last forever, but a fun story for Angelina fans...

At the end of the performance, as the magic hour of midnight approached and fireworks sparkled in the sky, Angelina and her friends wished everyone joy and peace, and they all sang and danced together to welcome in the New Year.

Happy New Year from Dewey's Treehouse!!!