Books like Nine Days to Christmas
By Marie Hall Ets and Aurora Labastida
For the kid who circles the calendar counting down to a big day, Ceci's countdown to her first posada will feel like watching their own excitement mirrored back at them. Warm, festive, and quietly wondrous, with the glow of a specific place and tradition.
A young girl feeling as gray as a pigeon on a rainy Saturday joins her busy mom on a trip to their favorite Chinatown store, gathering produce, seafood, and spices for a family dinner.
A girl from the Muscogee Creek Nation dreams of jingle dancing at the next powwow, but her dress has no jingles — so she turns to the women in her family and community to borrow theirs.
A boy travels north with his grandfather, Moshom, to see the trapline where Moshom grew up, asking again and again, "Is this your trapline?" as he imagines the life his grandfather once lived there.
Off a small island, a young boy sails an old boat, riding the shifting tides and catching wants and wishes until a change at sea reshapes what home means to him.
On an Easter egg hunt through Grandmom's house, a girl discovers a box of hand-painted eggs in the attic and helps revive a family tradition: hanging them on a small tree.
On a hot summer night the power goes out across the city, and a boy's family — bored, hot, and disconnected from their screens — heads to the roof and discovers stars, neighbors, and each other.
Two children prepare for el Día de los Muertos, making sugar skulls and special bread, then scatter marigold petals to guide their ancestors home for a night of singing, dancing, and remembering.
On a packed Christmas Eve, a house on Exeter Street fills up with guests in every nook and cranny — even a baby asleep in the kitchen sink — leaving one big question: will Father Christmas find them all?
A poor washerwoman on the island of Martinique uses her mother's magic wand to help her beloved goddaughter Cendrillon win the heart of a rich man's son.
On Olvera Street in old Los Angeles, a little girl turns four, receives a white dove as a gift, and carries it to the Old Mission Church for the Blessing of the Animals on the day before Easter.
A little girl heads to a crowded Tehran bazaar with her grandmother and worries about getting lost, imagining silly ways to hide under her grandmother's chador instead.
A snowy little one gets a big, soft bed for winter nights and can't help jumping, jumping, jumping on it — even though Mommy says the bed is for sleeping, not bouncing.
