Twelve Lizards Leaping by Rising Moon Editors

by Jan Romero Stevens

This Southwestern version of the familiar Christmas song features such gifts as ten tamales steaming, six piänatas swaying, and two prickly pears.

Genres: Christmas, Music, Picture Books, Childrens, Holiday

Hardcover

First published August 25, 1999

Reviews

[Meg McGregor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lexi and I, are currently trying to read as many versions, of The Twelve Days of Christmas, as we can find.

This is certainly one of the most unique!

Done with a Southwestern flair, my favorites were the five turquoise rings and nine luminarias gleaming.

Lexi, who has now really begun to read on her own, loved it; but she had a hard time with the word, paloverde. We were both in stitches by the time the book ended! She is just so precious!

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

My students really enjoyed this "sing aloud." It prompted them to want to write their 12 Days of Christmas.

[sarah young · Rating 3 out of 5]

Western styled version of the Twelve Days of Christmas. Was odd at first but picked up. Was a mouthful and my kids didn’t enjoy it much. Cheeky idea just not for us.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

A desert version of The Twelve Days of Christmas, the illustrations are nice, but I hate the original song so it was hard to like this book.

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

Title: Twelve Lizards Leaping

Author: Jan Romero Stevens (Illustrated: Christine Mau)

Genre: Children’s

Challenges: PB & J Challenge, 101 Books in 1001 Days Challenge, A to Z Reading Challenge, 2009 Support Your Local Library, Read Your Name Challenge 2009, 20 Books in 2009, Pages Read Challenge, Young Reader's Challenge 2009, Read a Book a Month Challenge, 100+ Reading Challenge – 2009, Summer Vacation Reading Challenge 2009, Christmas in July, What an Animal II, August Reading Challenge

Rating: 4/5

No. of Pages: 32

Published: 1999

From the inside cover: Children will delight in following Lizard as he romps through this new version of the traditional carol The Twelve Days of Christmas. The festivities of the holiday come to life as kids count and sing along with Lizard while he sneaks candy from six swaying piñatas, swirls with seven dancers, and is lassoed by one of the eight cowpokes twirling. Pared with vibrant illustrations, Twelve Lizards Leaping is destine to become a classic sing-along.

Mine: Great illustrations and what a wonderful take on the time honor song of “The Twelve Days of Christmas”. It’s cute to have a southwestern spin on it. Prickly Pears, A Quail in a Paloverde tree, horned toads, silver spurs, turquoise rings, piñatas, dancers, cowpokes, luminaries, tamales, coyotes, and finally twelve Lizards leaping.

[Heidi-Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun southwest twist to the 12 Days of Christmas. This might be better to use in a school-age group, since they're more familiar with the original song. While I think it would be fun to do with preschoolers, I may have too many Christmas-y books for the first day of December (and for a supposed-to-be non-favoritism appearance with a holiday at storytime).

[Bernadette · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun new version of the The 12 Days of Christmas - with a southwestern twist! This would be an excellent model for students who would like to write their own version of this classic Christmas carol.

[Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

A southwestern version of 'The Twelve Days of Christmas.' A nice book to read for the holidays, especially if you need to add a little southwest flavor.