Product Description

Poultry for Christmas dinner? What an outlandish idea! (20061115)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1123688 in Books
• Published on: 2006-11-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 32 pages

From Booklist
"No one eats chicken at Christmas," says Radim's mother. Czechs traditionally eat carp on the holiday, instead, and so days before Christmas, Radim and his father bring home a fish and store it in the bathtub. At first scornful, Radim develops a bond with the fish, naming it Carl: "I know he's just a fish, but I'm sure something goes on behind those bulging eyes." Eventually, Radim sneaks out, and with the help of his friend Mila, he releases Carl into the Vlatava River. On Christmas Day, Mila's family invites Radim and his parents to share a chicken feast. Children may have a few questions about cultural details and landmarks, but they'll be drawn in by the nicely paced, descriptive text, which is well-matched with luminous, mixed-media illustrations that evoke both the excitement of the festive, bustling streets and the coziness of lamp-lit interiors. Direct references to the baby Jesus make this a good choice for observant Christian families, while families seeking multicultural holiday stories will appreciate this non-American view of tradition. Gillian Engberg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
"This book will be an excellent addition to any collection of multicultural children's literature. Excellent" (Resource Links )

"nicely paced, descriptive text, which is well-matched with luminous, mixed-media illustrations that evoke both the excitement of the festive, bustling streets and the coziness of lamplit interiors. Direct references to the Baby Jesus make this a good choice for observant Christian families, while families seeking multicultural holiday stories will appreciate this non-American view of tradition. " (Booklist Magazine )

Customer Reviews

We Love Carl
This Christmas story not only has wonderful illustrations, it has a fun charming story of a boy and the fish his family is planning to eat for Christmas. It's a great story for the family and the kids love it.

Courtesy of Kids @ Teens Read Too
Radim only wants one thing for Christmas, and that's a new pair of ice skates. If his mother has anything to say about it, though, he'll get a lump of coal in his stocking for not eating his cauliflower! Radim hates cauliflower, and he's not even sure that a bright, shiny new pair of skates will be enough to convince him to eat it.

Along with his friend, Mila, Radim spends the last few days leading up to Christmas in Prague trying to slip bits of cauliflower to his dog, picking out just the right carp for the family Christmas dinner with his father, skating in his old skates, and looking at the giant Christmas tree in the Old Town Square.

Once his father finally makes a decision on what carp to choose for dinner, though, Radim has a problem. The fish floating sluggishly in their bathtub looks a lot like his Uncle Carl--and suddenly Radim knows that eating this particular carp, no matter how stupid an animal he might be, just can't be allowed.

This is a nice bedtime story for the kids, or a story for the entire family to read around Christmas. All children, at one time or another, have thoughts of rescuing a live animal, especially if it's going to become dinner!

Reviewed by: Jennifer Wardrip, aka "The Genius"