Believe: Mary Engelbreit's Christmas Treasury

by Mary Engelbreit

Believe: A Christmas Treasury with 100 new pieces of artwork, guided paper edges, ribbon marker, and lavishly embossed case, will be a cherished gift for years to come. Mary has combined her favorite Christmas poetry, prose, and songs, and liberally illustrated them with their best-loved seasonal images.

Believe / Jan Miller Girando --
A Christmas carol / Christina Rossetti --
Silent night --
Dear Virginia / Charles Dana --
Keeping Christmas / Jan Miller Girando --
Quite early one morning (excerpt) / Dylan Thomas --
Home for Christmas (excerpt) / Elizabeth Bowen --
A visit from St. Nicholas / Clement C. Moore --
Toyland --
Gifts of the magi / O. Henry --
Over the river and through the woods --
The substitute reindeer / Mrs. Roy L. Peifer --
Everywhere, everywhere Christmas tonight / Phillipe Brooks --
Up on the housetop --
Gospel of St. Luke (excerpt) --
The friendly beasts --
I believe in Christmas / M. Kathleen Haley --
Christmas in Germany --
Jack Frost in the garden / John P. Smeeton --
A Christmas carol / Charles Dickens (excerpt) --
Angels we have heard on high --
Little tree / E.E. Cummings --
Carol of the Brown King / Langston Hughes --
Another boy: the story of the birth at Bethlehem / Bruce Barton --
Christmas in Denmark --
Have yourself a merry little Christmas --
Don't waste the miracle / Jan Miller Girando --
Santa Claus is comin' to town --
Christmas in Finland --
Little Jesus / Francis Thompson --
Last minute shopper / Lolita Pinney --
Jest 'fore Christmas / --
Eugene Field --
Lullay, my liking --
It came upon a midnight clear --
Christmas day in the morning / Pearl S. Buck --
A tree of Christmas / Marguerite Gode --
Christmas in Sweden --
The stork / Christmas comes but once a year / Thomas Miller --
The first noel --
The three skaters --
Coming home / Jan Miller Girando --
Christmas in Italy --
Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow! --
Christmas in Switzerland --
For Christmas / Rachel Field --
The Christmas song (Chestnuts roasting on a open fire) --
'Tis the season / Jan Miller Girando --
The sugar-plum tree / Eugene Field --
Jolly old St. Nicholas --
It never hurts to ask / Jan Miller Girando --
Christmas / Leonard Clark --
A child's Christmas Eve dream / Ethel Van Deusen Humiston --
Christmas in North America --
All things bright and beautiful / Cecil Frances Alexander --
Let there be peace on earth --
Its's beginning to look like Christmas --
Christmas in France --
The lamb / William Blake --
Here comes Santa Claus.

Genres: Christmas, Poetry, Art, Holiday, Childrens, Picture Books, Fiction

144 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 1998

About the author

Mary Engelbreit grew up studying the illustrations in the vintage storybooks of her mother’s childhood, and she developed a unique style that harkens back to those simpler times. Mary’s distinctive images have made her a celebrity to millions, who eagerly snap up gift items, calendars, books, fabrics, and more.

Mary’s New York Times bestselling The Night Before Christmas is part of the holiday tradition for families across the country. Other beloved additions to a child’s first bookshelf are her New York Times bestselling Mary Engelbreit's Mother Goose and Mary Engelbreit's Nursery Tales, which are perfect companions to this volume.

Reviews

[Loretta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredibly beautiful book filled with wonderful little stories and poetry! Illustrations are gorgeous! I love Mary Englebreit's artwork! It's so very pretty! ☺️

[Sylvia Light · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gorgeous, colorful illustrations of the holiday season. Interspersed with how Christmas is celebrated around the world. Traditional pieces mixed In with the new. Perfect to read alone or with your little ones.

[Set · Rating 5 out of 5]

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"May your Christmas be a happy one and may the New Year bring you contentment and prosperity in overflowing measure." This Christmas treasury is one of the best I've ever read and the illustrations are absolutely gorgeous. If you love Christmas and I love reading Christmas stories, carols, poems and children experiences, then this is the book for you. I am not a fan of Gifts of the Magi and a Christmas Carol but all the other stories in this book are wonderful and some I've never read before.

I love the information on Christmas traditions of different places all around the world like Denmark, Germany, Sweden, Italy, Switzerland, and France.

My favorite poems were Jack Frost in the Garden by John P. Smeeton, A Tree of Christmas by Marguerite Gode, The Sugar-Plum Tree by Eugene Field, The Lamb by William Blake. I'm also glad to have learned of the song Toyland. My favorite stories are Another Boy: The Story of the Birth at Bethlehem by Bruce Barton and The Three Skaters by Anonymous.

This book does mention the magi saint Santa Claus a lot but it is also delivers the message of the first Christmas being the birth of Christ.

"God made so many different kinds of people, why would he allow only one way to serve him?
Let everyone be himself, and not try to be someone else. God, who looked on the world He had made and said it was all good, made each of us to be just what our own gifts and faculties fit us to be. Be that and do that and so be contented. Reverence, alas, each other's gifts; do not quarrel with me because I am not you, and I will do the same. God made your brother as well as yourself. He made you perhaps, to be bright; he made him slow, he made you practical; he made him speculative; he made one strong and another weak, one tough and another tender; but the same God made us all. Let us not torment each in making us so different. So will the best harmony come out of seeming discords, the best affection out of differences, the best of life out of struggle, and the best work will be done when each does his own work, and lets everyone else do and be what God made him for."
James Freeman Clarke

[Connie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful book with brilliant color illustrations. Fun to read and admire.

“It is a comely fashion to be glad;
Joy is the grace we say to God” (Jean Ingelow).

Love came down at Christmas,
Love all lovely, love divine;
Love was born at Christmas,
Stars and Angels gave the sign (Christina Rossetti).

The Sugar-Plum Tree by Eugene Field;
It Can’t Hurt to Ask by Mary Engelbreit;
It Never Hurts to Ask and Coming Home by Jan Miller Girando;
A Child’s Christmas Eve Dream by Ethel Van Deusen Humiston;
Let There Be Peace on Earth (Let It Begin with Me) by Sy Miller and Jill Jackson

and many more.

[Ariel · Rating 5 out of 5]

** Random library find**

I highly recommend!!!

The Substitute Reindeer
This little poem/story really got me I won't lie I cried a little bits not because I was sad but because it made me think of someone who I miss a lot.
I had never heard of this book I did not read it as a child I just happened to walk past it at the library and fell in love. Every song that I love is in this book and I read and sang along. Beautiful poetry that will definitely get you in the mood just to be happy.

[Lenore Kuipers-Cummins · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have always loved Mary Engelbreit's illustrations. This book did not disappoint.
It is a combination of all things Christmas. There were several hymns (Silent Night). There were several Christmas carols that I remember singing at school (Up on the Housetop), and those that you hear every year on the radio (It's Beginning to look a lot like Christmas). I was surprised to see selections included by E.E. Cummings, Pearl Buck, Rachel Field, William Blake and Charles Dickens, to name a few. The illustrations were just what you would expect from Mary Engelbreit...colorful and detailed...I spent a lot of time just looking at those.
This the kind of book you can enjoy as an adult...a reminder of what's important at Christmastime, but it is also one that you could sit down with your children or grandchildren and share together. It's the kind of book that you can pull out every Christmas and share over and over again.

[Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mary Engelbreit's Christmas book contains a nice collection of poems, lyrics, sayings, and short stories, all on the light and joyous side of the holiday. The book design, cover art, and illustrations are a major part of the book's appeal. Engelbreit's hyper decorative style won't be everyone's cup of tea, but I find the super abundant detail, the color, and the liveliness seductive. One can look and look at those pictures and borders and see something more, then something more again that catches the eye, all beautifully executed. A lovely book to have on your library shelf.

[Gail DiVico · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful treasury of Christmas carols, stories, quotes and poems representing the season. One of my very favorites is the letter from the New York Sun, "Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus." Beautifully illustrated by the incomparable Mary Engelbriet, this is a book you will want to take out year after year to enjoy with your family and friends.

[Maria C.]

Delightful. I loved the illustrations.

[Christine Kallner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though I have plenty of Christmas books, I've been looking for a really good anthology/treasury and borrowed a few from the library. This one is really fantastic and is now on my wishlist for next Christmas. Beautiful illustrations and a wide range of stories, songs, quotes, excerpts, etc. covering the religious and non-religious aspects of Christmas celebrations. It has a lot of the content (if not all?) from one of her newer, shorter treasuries Peace on Earth, A Christmas Collection, but this one has 100+ more pages.

[Jasmyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would love to own this Christmas treasury--the illustrations are wonderful and there are so many great selections in this! The kids loved it and I loved reading a little every day leading up to Christmas.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a delightful compilation of so many treasured favorite poems, stories, and songs paired with Mary Enggelbreit's amazing and magical artwork. This would be a great addition to any family's collection of Christmas books.

[Allie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been reading this since I was a kid, but it's nice to read it with fresh eyes as an adult! Her illustrations are dazzling in this compendium!

[Sally · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another beautifully illustrated compilation of treasured Christmas poems and stories. I love Mary Englebreit's whimsical and sentimental illustrations!

[Jennifer Hughes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mary Engelbreit's illustrations are always charming, but the stories in this book were lacking in substance compared to the wonderful artwork.