Baby's First Christmas

by Tomie dePaola

Simple texts and illustrations introduce some of the familiar sights and experiences of Christmas. On board pages.

Genres: Christmas, Picture Books, Childrens, Holiday, Fiction, Juvenile

12 pages, Board Book

First published October 10, 1988

About the author

Tomie dePaola (pronounced Tommy da-POW-la) was best known for his books for children.

He had a five-decade writing and illustrating career during which he published more than 270 books, including 26 Fairmount Avenue, Strega Nona, and Meet the Barkers.

Tomie dePaola and his work have been recognized with the Caldecott Honor Award, the Newbery Honor Award, the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, and the New Hampshire Governor's Arts Award of Living Treasure.

Reviews

[Rod Brown]

This bare bones Christmas book simply walks us around a house decorated for Christmas and points at various things: "These are the stockings for Santa to fill."

Ho-hum.

[Zara Halicki]

I love to read this book with my nonni!

[Smith Cole]

We have a lot of these things in our house!

[Josiah]

Fond as he is of chronicling religious stories and tradition, Tomie dePaola was an obvious choice to do a book like Baby's First Christmas, an introduction for the youngest children to the symbols of Yuletide spirit.

A bushy green wreath on the front door, and a candle burning bright in the window. Sprigs of holly on every shelf, and a manger scene depicting Jesus' birth in Bethlehem. These are a few of the sights common to the Christmas season. We decorate a tree with pretty ornaments, and top it with a star or angel. We hang stockings to fill with small gifts, and bake cookies for Santa Claus. Eternal as the wait can feel, Christmas morning arrives soon enough with presents surrounding the tree and a unique air of excitement.

I thought at first this book should be more detailed about the origins of Christmas, but it's fine as is. The text leaves openings to discuss its meaning as a Christian holiday or secular celebration, and that's fair. Tomie dePaola's artwork is a colorful tribute to the season. Revisiting this book each Christmas is a small delight.

Note: for the Baby's First Christmas edition almost everything inside the book is identical to My First Christmas, apart from minor alterations to the drawings, and a section or two where the words are arranged differently. The text on the back cover, for whatever reason, is not the same. The back of My First Christmas reads: "With simple text and cheerful watercolor paintings, Tomie dePaola introduces the traditional symbols of Christmas celebrations—a perfect gift for babies and toddlers." From the back of Baby's First Christmas: "A perfect first book for babies and toddlers who are beginning to recognize the symbols we all see during the Christmas season—a wreath, holly, ornaments, stockings, Santa Claus carrying a sackful of presents, and more."

[Josiah]

Fond as he is of chronicling religious stories and tradition, Tomie dePaola was an obvious choice to do a book like My First Christmas, an introduction for the youngest children to the joys of Yuletide spirit.

A bushy green wreath on the front door, and a candle burning bright in the window. Sprigs of holly on every shelf, and a manger scene depicting Jesus' birth in Bethlehem. These are a few of the sights common to the Christmas season. We decorate a tree with pretty ornaments, and top it with a star or angel. We hang stockings to fill with small gifts, and bake cookies for Santa Claus. Eternal as the wait can feel, Christmas morning arrives soon enough with presents surrounding the tree and a unique air of excitement.

I thought at first this book should be more detailed about the origins of Christmas, but it's fine as is. The text leaves openings to discuss its meaning as a Christian holiday or secular celebration, and that's fair. Tomie dePaola's artwork is a colorful tribute to the season. Revisiting this book each Christmas is a small delight.

[Nickel Pickle]

Mommy got me this book to help me learn about Christmas. She took out lots of boxes and put new red and sparkly and fancy things all around the house, but I didn't know what they were or why they were there. Now I know "wreath" and "stocking" and especially "Santa Claus." I can't say the words yet, but I point at them when I see them. Something special is going to happen soon and now I understand more of it.

[Tess]

always a favorite by this author. I like that there's an angel and manger, but no other religious mention, so it's nice for secular homes.

[Abigail]

Prolific author/illustrator Tomie dePaola offers a catalog of Christmas objects and traditions in this simple holiday board book for babies. From wreaths to candles, decorations for the tree to cookies for Santa, everything is made ready for the arrival of this gift giver, whose appearance closes out the book...

Originally published in 1988 as Baby's First Christmas , this title was reprinted as My First Christmas in 2008, as part of the larger My First... board book series from dePaola, celebrating various holidays and special occasions. I didn't realize this at first, and as my library owns both books, I requested and received both. Having now read them, I can confirm that everything—text, illustrations, page layout—is exactly the same between them, and that only the title and the Santa on the front cover (he was raised in the newer version) was changed. Given this fact, I am only reviewing My First Christmas, although the response could apply to both titles. I found this one cute, and not much else. Which isn't to disparage it. It's perfectly appropriate for the age range being targeted, and it is to them—babies celebrating their first Christmas—that I would recommend it.

[Khari]

This book is nothing special, but it became special because I read it to a friend of mine's baby on a completely different continent and she was hilarious. She tried to grab the book off of the skype screen, not once, but twice. She really wanted to get her hands on it. Completely adorable.

Anyway.

Story: Procedural
Art: Cute
Price: $5.95

[Miss Kelly]

Christmas Books 2017

[Jessie]

The "first Christmas" part of this isn't explicitly in the book, as far as I remember. It's a quick, sweet overview of some Christmas traditions.

[Kris Dersch]

Really cute. Lovely illustrations. My only ding on this book is the title. I feel like this is too cute a book to just read for your first Christmas.

[Alison Reads]

A basic book sharing symbols of the season with classic dePaola illustrations. A nice Christmas book for the very young.

[Shannon]

Probably the best Christmas book I’ve found for babies. Very simple, beautiful pictures. We read this many times over Christmas.

[Molly]

A board book featuring many of the traditional symbols of Christmas such as wreaths, candy canes and stockings. It has beautiful illustrations in Tomie dePaola's signature style.

[Cassie]

Cute!

[Adam Milsted]

Dad life, book #26... Christmas edition!

[TJE]

Huge fan of Tomie DePaola and this was a great First Christmas book. Text was appropriate for read aloud to a toddler. Wish it rhymed or flowed better though.

[TFE]

Love Tomie dePaola, cute "first" book but wish the text had better flow.

[Miss Becky]

Simple book that shows the different objects that are found around Christmas time.

[Sandy]

This story was very simple and straightforward. The pictures were bright and colorful and the text was written in black, bold print making it easy to read. I liked that the illustrations were simple and children could copy them or relate to them, meaning they were not elaborating done. The author talks about decorations a lot, cookies, and Santa. It was an okay children’s book for me, nothing really special except it was very simple and basic. I wondered about some of the words used in the story though, words like manager, mantle, and scene. Children would need to be introduced to these words beforehand reading it to them. There is a religious aspect to one page, as they talk about a manager scene, so that would have to be considered if you are reading this to a classroom. 3.5 stars
I want to thank YABC for a copy of this novel for I received this book as a part of YABooksCentral.com 12 Days of Christmas. This is my own opinion of this children’s book.

[jacky]

I read this to Natalie at the grocery store today. It is a nice first Christmas book, as long as you are looking for a non-religious one. It focuses on several traditional holiday items, like stockings, window candles, and wreathes. Santa is also at the end. The illustrations are simple, rather than busy or overly detailed, which helps children focus on the items being discussed.

[Terry]

The book doesn't offer a story, per se. While it does introduce all of the things we traditionally associate with Christmas, it's fairly bland. See how our reviewing family liked the book.

[Theresa]

a cute story for young children about the importance of the holiday
a cute story for young children about the importance of the holiday

[Janet]

I always love dePaola's illustrations and this is a good book to introduce children to the basic items surrounding Christmas.

[Heather]

Perfect book for pre-k

[Chrissy]

There's no one better than DePaola. No one.