Hayes follows The Winter Visitors and The Summer Visitors with a third story of a gentle ursine takeover of a cottage that’s been closed up for the season by its owners. But when the family decides to celebrate the holidays in the cottage after all, the bears must skedaddle. In a nod to “The Night Before Christmas” one of the children catches the bears leaving a decorative surprise for the family on Christmas Eve night. Hayes’s spare writing can, at times, be inscrutable (“Merry holidays,/ twinkling lights,/ and starlit skies;/ all go round and round/ and off to bed”), though the watercolor scenes of ice skating families (both human and bear) and holiday celebrations are fun and festive. Ages 4–8.
Description
It’s Christmas at the cottage by the lake and the bears are busy preparing to celebrate. The human owners of the cottage, however, are in the city feeling glum. Until the idea comes to them to spend the holidays at their cottage.
What follows is a set of misadventures as the family arrives without presents—they were left on the train—and without the usual holiday accoutrements—the Christmas trees and turkeys are all sold out. But they are in for a treat as the cottage has been decorated by their unseen friends. So the bears unwittingly save Christmas for their human hosts, yet are still able to enjoy their own fine celebration. And, as with the other books, the bears do so all while cleverly avoiding confrontation with their human friends.
Pages32
Released2013
LanguageEnglish
PublisherDown East Books
ISBN9781608932498
SellerSimon & Schuster
About the author(s)
Award winning watercolor artist and illustrator Karel Hayes has participated in solo, juried, and invitational exhibitions throughout the United States. Her paintings have been shown at the Cincinnati Museum of Natural History, the Fine Arts Center in Taos, New Mexico and, in New York City, at the Salmagundi Club, the Catherine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club, and the National Arts Club. She has illustrated over twenty-eight books and written and illustrated twelve books—most notable, The Winter Visitors, which won three awards, including an IPPY bronze medal for best children’s picture book, and The Summer Visitors, which was reviewed by the New York Times.
