Madeline's Christmas by Ludwig Bemelmans Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Madeline's Christmas
Book Review: My favorite Madeline book
Summary: 5 Stars
This is my favorite Madeline book and one of my favorite books in general. I think it's very sweet that Madeline, the littlest girl in the old house covered with vines, should be the one doing all the cooking and cleaning when everyone else in the house is sick. It's also sweet that she makes the important decision of purchasing carpets from a rug merchant to warm everyone else in the house; in many households, little children hardly have anything important to do, so this story is a lovely fantasy that children might enjoy. I also liked the part where the magic carpets brought all the little girls home to their families, and they were able to give their parents hugs for Christmas. A charming story.Book Review: Little more than a Madeline Christmas card from Ludwig Bemelmans
Summary: 3 Stars
"Madeline's Christmas" was originally published as a special book insert in the 1956 Christmas edition of "McCall's" magazine (which is where a shorter version of "Madeline and the Gypsies" would appear a couple of years later). It is the shortest of Ludwig Bemelmans six Madeline books and the only one in which all of the pages have full color illustrations instead of those familiar ones that are predominantly yellow. The story seems at first like it might be a take off on "The Night Before Christmas," since it interjects the first four lines of that poem after beginning with the familiar recap of the old house covered with vines, the twelve girls, and Madeline's inevitable retort to the tiger at the zoo. But it turns out that everybody in the house, from Miss Clavel to a poor mouse, are in bed with cold. Everyone, of course, except for brave little Madeline.
Madeline is taking care of everybody, cleaning and cooking, and when a rug merchant shows up with 12 rugs to sell, she buys them so everybody in the house will not have to put their feet on the cold floor when they get out of bed. Without his rugs the merchant gets frozen and Madeline has to take care of him. By this point you are wondering why this is a Christmas story as opposed one where it is just snowy and cold, but it seems the merchant is also a magician and you know what that makes those rugs.
This is a minor Madeline story and while we finally get to see Madeline's parents, it does make you wonder why the twelve little girls are still at the house all covered with vines at Christmas time. But then it was never clear if Miss Clavel was running a boarding school or an orphanage or what, and I am afraid "Madeline's Christmas" only confuses things (I did a bit of research and discovered Bemelmans was working on the stories his mother told him about life in a convent school in Altotting). So this effort is a trifle all things considered and you will not really find anything inside the book as you find on the cover, with the Eiffel Tower done up like a Christmas tree.
Book Review: The other reviewers missed the boat on this great book!
Summary: 5 Stars
It's not so much the story here as the activities! It has reuseable vinyl characters (like Colorforms) that kids can use to create their own stories--tons of games and holiday worksheets. I must disclose that I own a bookstore that stocks this title, but I am VERY selective about the items I stock--especially for kids. Enjoy!Book Review: A BIG disapointment
Summary: 1 Stars
I never read Madeline books as a child and was captivated by them when I started reading them to my child. I was very excited to make this book a part of my holiday book collection. However I should have read this one before buying!This one makes no sense, its hardly about Christmas at all and the usual charming rhymes are not there. Check this one out at the library before buying!Book Review: Skip this one.
Summary: 2 Stars
Madeline, Madeline's Rescue, and Madeline and the Gypsies are all fine books, but Madeline's Christmas is a dud. It doesn't have the same cadence as the others, and the plot is not as appealing.