AUTHOR PICKS--Holiday/Winter Favorites

What books do authors enjoy reading during the holidays/winter?  Here's what they said...

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Lauren Willig, author of the The Orchid Affair (Pink Carnation series) 

Holiday books....  I'd say mine are Little Women, Debbie Macomber's Angel books (The Trouble With Angels, etc.),  Elizabeth Young's Fair Game (A Promising Man and About Time, Too in the US), Jo Beverly's Winter Fire, and an old, old holiday anthology called A Holiday of Love, featuring Judith McNaught and Jude Deveraux (old school romance!). Sometimes Judith McNaught's Paradise, too.

Kristan Higgins, author of Until There Was You

A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens. I read it every year and watch two movie versions.

The Christmas Bear, by Henrietta and Paul Stickland. The illustrations are so charming…exactly what you'd imagine Santa's house should look like.

The Polar Express, by Chris Van Allsburg. Spare, mysterious and utterly magical. Still can't read the last line without crying, even after all these years.

Leslie Bulion, author of At The Sea Floor Cafe

My favorite Hanukkah picture book is Hanukkah Cat, by Chaya M. Burstein.  It combines a lovely retelling of the Hanukkah story with a more contemporary story of how a boy who tries to help a stray cat brings about his own Hanukkah miracle. 

My favorite winter picture book is Paperwhite, written and illustrated by Connecticut's own Nancy Elizabeth Wallace.  It is the story of good neighbors who spend time together bringing a bit of spring into their winter days.

My favorite Christmas story is How the Grinch Stole Christmas--no explanation necessary!  Who doesn't love Cindy Lou Who?

David Macinnis Gill, author of Black Hole Sun

How the Grinch Stole Christmas, by Dr. Seuss

Mary E. Pearson, author of The Fox Inheritance (The Jenna Fox Chronicles)

Oh, so many but one I really love is The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, by Barbara Robinson.  

In fact, I think it's time for me to reread this one again . . .