Jingle Bells

by Iza Trapani

A charming wintry tale of a boy and a snowstorm.

Wrapped in a quilt, a young boy watches from a window as a blizzard covers the earth in a blanket of snow. Told from the child's perspective, Blizzard contrasts the coziness of home with the wildness of nature, celebrating the beauty of both.

Lyrical text and striking illustrations depict the child's gentle adventure.

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

32 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Mischenko · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of our favorite Christmas books. The text begins with the original "Jingle Bells" and then moves on to Christmas in other cultures. It's educational and fun to sing the whole book outloud. The illustrations are colorful and detailed. One to keep.

5*****

[Lorellie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tales of Christmas traditions around the world, set to the tune of the song. Tot was very interested. She wants her own Christmas pinata, like the children of Mexico.

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always enjoy seeing how Christmas is celebrated in other countries. Trapani did a good job adapting the Jingle Bells song -- the rhyme scheme fits the melody well.

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jingle Bells takes the reader all over the world showing how all different countries and cultures celebrate Christmas. It hits on all the different customs and traditions that countries around the word do around the holidays. The illustrations are outstanding and provide a clear visual when reading about so many different Christmas customs and traditions. This is a great story to read with children to expose them to the variety of ways that the holiday is celebrated. The end of the picture book has an illustration of all the children shown in the book together in one room celebrating the holiday. This sends a great message about acceptance and tolerance and promotes interest in learning about other cultures. I highly recommend reading this book with children around the holidays!

[Jo Oehrlein · Rating 3 out of 5]

New words to the tune tell of Christmas traditions from around the world (Mexico, Italy, Poland, Philippines, Kenya, Sweden).

[Kayah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jingle Bells by Iza Trapini is a picture book that follows the jingle bells song, but with a twist. This picture book talks about Christmas around various parts of the world, specifically Mexico, Sweden, the Philippines, Poland, Italy and Kenya. I love that this picture book covers multiple different countries and cultures and how they celebrate Christmas due to the fact that I never learned about how different cultures experience Christmas. This picture book would be perfect for the holidays and showing diversity to students and different cultures. This book is inclusive and students from different cultures could relate to this book since Americans Christmas traditions are different than theirs. At first, I was thinking that the only negative thing that I could say about this book was using words that students may not know. For example, "Swedish" might be hard for some students to understand as it is a brand of candy, but there is a glossary in the back defining the terms!

[Jenna · Rating 5 out of 5]

This books was made for anyone who loves learning about other cultures and traditions. Trapani uses the song Jingle Bells to take readers on a journey around the world to get a glimpse of how Christmas is celebrated in many different countries. The traditions we all share have their own twist and personality depending on where you are in the world, and all are brought together in the celebration of Christmas. Be prepared to sing with this one, you won’t be able to keep the tune of “Jingle Bells” out of your head.

[Anne Soderlund · Rating 3 out of 5]

Smart use of the traditional song to explore Christmas traditions in several different cultures. Can be sung or read without the tune. Interesting notes on the various traditions in the back of the book help answer some questions that come up ( eg. "Who's the old lady with the broom in Italy?") Can spark discussion of family traditions. Would be helpful to have a pronunciation guide for the Polish and Kenyan Christmas greetings.

[Diana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting take on the traditional song. I very much enjoyed the insights into how other cultures celebrate Christmas, and I think this would be a great start to a discussion on cultural differences (and similarities!) around the world. However, it didn't work for storytime since I needed something shorter, so that was a bummer.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very pleasantly surprised with this one. A jingle bell trip around the world. Wonderful illustrations of international holidays and the verses sang easily to the traditional tune. Though honestly, I'm not sure what the official book description has to do with this book?? Definitely a keeper.

[Tori · Rating 3 out of 5]

In verses that can be read to the tune of the traditional "Jingle Bells" song, a pair of children take a magical sleigh ride around the world where they see how children in other countries celebrate Christmas. I used it for my Pre-K storytime this year and it went well.

[Angie · Rating 4 out of 5]

More than just a picture book for the song, this version adds new verses that teach about the ways people celebrate Christmas in several different countries. Includes a page at the end that expands on those traditions a bit more, and a page with all the verses together.

[Jeani · Rating 3 out of 5]

We sang the whole thing! Fun book and a nice supplement to learning about how different people celebrate Christmas.

[Christina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love singing this book. An easy way to spend time with a book and my children.

[Elizabeth C S · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great look into different cultures around the world during Christmas!

[Tasha · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this story, and how its different from the song we all know. Its perfect to show the children how things are different else where, but you can still be friends.

[Miss Pippi the Librarian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jingle Bells has new verses that share different holiday customs from around the world.

2020 storytime theme: Merry & Bright Read Aloud Extravaganza

Reviewed from a library copy.

[Cindy Petzoldt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Iza Trapani does her usual terrific job of melding a story/song with her beautiful illustrations. Fun to sing and read aloud.

[Alicia Steagall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent, Beautiful, and a lovely Christmas story

[Brycen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Terrible and made no sense. Why would there be horses flying when the only things that can fly are birds, bats, and reindeer??? My kids are scarred for life now thanks a lot.

[Andrés · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another musical adaptation from Trapani, this time with a journey into living rooms, dining rooms, and communities around the world to see how Christmas is celebrated in different places.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m usually not a big fan of songs turned into books. But this author has created additional verses in which we travel the world, seeing the Christmas traditions of various cultures. It’s interesting and educational and the rhythm of the new lyrics works.

[Luisa Knight · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sing the song with new lyrics as you sleigh ride around the world, seeing how various cultures celebrate!

Ages: 4 - 8

Cleanliness: nothing to note.

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[babyhippoface · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first pages of this colorful book come straight from the traditional Christmas song "Jingle Bells". Then the one-horse, open sleigh takes off into the night sky and flies around the world to witness other children celebrating the holiday in their homelands. Visits to Mexico, Sweden, the Philippines, Poland, Italy, and Kenya give brief snapshot of celebrations as children break a pinata, receive gifts from gnomes, wait for the first star to begin the Christmas feast, and more.

One-paragraph descriptions of the pictured Christmas traditions in those six nations are given at the end, along with the "sheet music" and the book's additional verses to Jingle Bells.

The illustrations are colorful and fun, and kids will definitely want to sing along!

[Angie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Synopsis: "A charming wintry tale of a boy and a snowstorm.
Wrapped in a quilt, a young boy watches from a window as a blizzard covers the earth in a blanket of snow. Told from the child's perspective, Blizzard contrasts the coziness of home with the wildness of nature, celebrating the beauty of both.

Lyrical text and striking illustrations depict the child's gentle adventure."

My Review: I thought this was simply going to be a repeat of the lyrics of the song with some illustrations but was definitely wrong. There are some clever twists to the song to include many different regions and their holiday traditions. The illustrations are also beautiful. It did get a little long for Munchkin to sit through but would be great for a preschooler or kindergartener.

[Diana · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. It was so adorable and fun to travel around the world and see the different cultures during Christmas time. I liked that it had a different verse to fit each new country it was portraying. And I thought it was fun to see that all the different places in the world celebrating the same holiday, but with their own tradtitions and values. I thought the artwork was beautiful and it was fun to see the different places portrayed in such a beautiful way. I felt like I was looking at a real family from different places in the world. This would be fun to talk about different cultures and holidays.

[Kalee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun musical book of Jingle Bells but after the song it gave great pictures and simple descriptions of Christmas type traditions around the world! This would be fun to do around Christmas time to study cultures and different ways people celebrate Christmas or a different holiday people celebrate instead of Christmas. The pictures were well detailed and gave a great cultural sense to each culture they were talking about! It would be fun to bring in food or activities that these different cultures do and participate them in a classroom or in your own home.

[Molly · Rating 3 out of 5]

A version of the classic Christmas song with new verses by the author exploring Christmas traditions of Mexico, Sweden, the Philippines, Poland, Italy and Kenya. It also includes illustrations by the author. It's cute, some of the rhymes feel a little forced, but overall it's fun to see Christmas celebrations around the world. Some of the illustrations seem to promote stereotypes but not enough that I wouldn't recommend it. Maybe just have a conversation with your child about it. Overall, a fun new version of the Christmas classic.

[Relyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book. We always start it off as a sing along, but then the kids get a neat surprise. The book actually takes the reader on a sleigh ride all over the world to learn a little bit about Christmas customs in other countries. It gives just enough to really whet their appetites to learn about other cultures. I love this book. Especially the illustrations for the trip to Poland. The pages fairly glow.

[Kimberly · Rating 5 out of 5]

We absolutely love this book. Picked it up at the library to help introduce the song Jingle Bells to our two year old. We are a huge fan of Trapini's books. She always comes up with clever rhymes to extend the familiar song into something extra special. In this book, she introduces children to several Christmas traditions all over the world!!! She takes you to Poland, Kenya, Mexico, Italy and many more countries. The illustrations are great too!!!