No Scrooges This Season! I've Got the Christmas Spirit! by Connie Schoefield-Morrison

There are wreaths in every window and snow on every windowsill on this girl's street, as she skips down the sidewalk with her mother for some Christmas shopping.

I HEARD THE SPIRIT IN THE AIR--DING DONG DING!

She's been saving up the spirit all through the year and now the season for it is here!

There are carolers caroling and skaters whooshing around the rink! There are colored lights blinking from every shop window, with store Santa's Ho-Ho-Ho-ing and corner Santas ding-ding-dinging over their kettles, asking for gifts for the needy. And, oh, my golly! Is that the aroma of chestnuts roasting?

'Tis the season to be jolly and this spirited girl feels it in her happy nose and dancing toes.

GOOD TIDINGS AND CHEER TO ALL THROUGH THE YEAR!

Shoo, Scrooge! Go away, Grinch! All is merry and bright! Daddy's back and it's time to start celebrating, in Connie Schofield-Morrison's I Got the Christmas Spirit (Bloomsbury Books). Author Connie Schofield-Morrison's cheery and spirited heroine is back in a story for those who love everything about the season. What's not to like at Christmas, and she throws herself fully into the joys of the holiday. As in their other collaborations, I Got the School Spirit and I Got the Rhythm, Connie and Frank Morrison's ebullient heroine echews holiday angst a la Charlie Brown, but meets the season full of holly jollity with a glad FA, LA, LA!

Here For Each Other: You Hold Me Up by Monique Gray Smith

YOU HOLD ME UP WHEN YOU SHARE WITH ME.

Sharing is really the simplest form of caring. Whether it is an apple, a meal, a hug, a helping hand, advice, or approval, it is what makes for a social connection.

When you share a dance or a story and a song, a cuddle with a baby or some comforting touch, a laugh or a lesson, it means that someone belongs. It means acceptance, that someone belongs somewhere and with someone else.

WE HOLD EACH OTHER UP.

Monique Gray Smith's You Hold Me Up (Orca Books Publishing) takes a widening look at the saying, "It takes a village to raise a child" a bit further, by showing what it takes to make a village, a community in which members survive and thrive. Although the author has native American roots, what it takes to keep a family and a community alive are the same everywhere. Artist Danielle Daniels' charming gouache, pencil, and acrylic illustrations portray Indian families and yet convey an intimacy and trust that is universal, reaffirming that all humans need mutual support. A warm, heartfelt book, great for lapsit storytime and small group reading aloud.

Says Kirkus Reviews "...words and art offer a warm and positive message. Calming, positive, and serenely affirmative."

A Plethora of Pets! Fancy Nancy: Oodles of Kittens by Jane O'Connor

As Bree and I split the last pastry, suddenly we hear crying. It's coming from outside!

EE-yewww! EE-yewww!

On a dismally drenching day, Nancy Clancy and her best friend Bree are drowning their sorrows at a tea party in Mrs. DeVine's parlor when they hear an arresting sound. The two throw on their raincoats and dash outside to investigate. The sound is coming from inside Mrs. DeVine's doghouse, Chateau Jewel.

And inside there is a cat! A fluffy orange cat--and oodles of teeny-tiny kittens....

1, 2, 3, 4, 5!

Mrs. DeVine opines that the cat is a stray, with no home, and as she helps the girls carry the little feline family inside, she tells them that a new mother cat is called-- A QUEEN!

"OOH-LA-LA! How fancy!" says Nancy!

Nancy and Bree spend a lot of time after school at Mrs. DeVine's house with the kittens as their eyes open and they begin to chase each other and explore all over. Mrs. DeVine names the mother cat "Maj," short for "Majesty," and Nancy and Bree claim the little white and black kittens--which they name "Sequin" and "Rhinestone," for their own.

Nancy absolutely dotes upon her new pet.

"I shower Sequin with oodles of affection. Taking care of a kitten is a full-time job!"

Nancy is so taken with her new kitten that she has no time for her "old" pet, Frenchy! Frenchy begs and begs, with her food bowl and then her leash in her mouth, but Nancy is to absorbed in kitten care to notice.

But Frenchy is clearly not pleased with the new pet. She growls and barks at Sequin. Nancy can't understand why her dog is not happy with the new member of the family.

Maybe Frenchy is jealous," says Mom. "She sees you giving Sequin so much attention!

You don't remember," Mom adds, "but after JoJo was born, you were very jealous."

Even grown-up dogs get jealous, and Nancy gets it that even "mature" pets need their share of loving care, and when Sequin escapes from the house and can't be found, it's Frenchy's turn to show what good grownup dogs do best, in Jane O'Connor's newest full-format picture book, Fancy Nancy: Oodles of Kittens (Harper, 2018). With a cover that is lavish with glitter and with the chichi and charming-as-ever illustrations by artist Robin Preiss Glasser, this one will please Nancy Clancy fans and pet lovers of both the canine and feline persuasions.