Book of Christmas Carols

by Bernette G. Ford

An illustrated collection of Christmas carols, including "Away in a Manger," "Silent Night," "I Saw Three Ships," and "Joy to the World."

Genres: Christmas, Childrens

60 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1994

About the author

Bernette G. Ford was an American author, editor and publisher. She worked as editor-in-chief at Grosset & Dunlap and later Scholastic Books, where she was vice-president of the Cartwheel imprint, which she helped launch. She was the co-author of the groundbreaking bestseller Bright Eyes, Brown Skin, along with the bestselling Ballet Kitty series, No More Diapers for Ducky, and First Snow.

Reviews

[Laura (Book Scrounger) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was pleased to come across this book at a flea market (and in good condition, too), because it's a great addition to our Christmas-themed literature. While we have a hymnal or two somewhere, this is a much more accessible way for children to encounter the words to traditional Christmas carols.

Each carol shows the first verse/chorus with sheet music (hymnal style), while the complete text is included in verse form after that. (I really appreciate this since I don't read music so the words are easier to read this way.) Before the carol text, there is an introduction which describes where the carol is from, and approximately when it was written and by whom (if known). There are a few here whose backstories were familiar to me, but others that I learned about for the first time.

Most of the older, traditional favorites are included here -- Silent Night, What Child is This, O Come All Ye Faithful, Joy to the World, etc. Most are religious in nature but there are a few fun ones (Jingle Bells, Deck the Hall, etc.) that are not.

It was nice to see some diversity in the people in the drawings here, which is not something I would have necessarily expected from a Real Mother Goose book (this was published a lot later than the nursery rhyme book though).

My only real complaint is that there are a couple carols here (O Christmas Tree, O Come O Come Emmanuel) which are not the versions I'm used to, and I assume these are simply alternate translations. However, I listen to an awful lot of Christmas music, and I don't think I've yet heard anyone record this version of O Come O Come Emmanuel -- it's too bad a less popular version (again, assuming my experience is typical) was chosen.

Either way, this is a great book to have if you love traditional Christmas carols, whether you read music or not.

Update: This book was chosen for Day 3 of my "25 Days of Christmas Books" blog series.
https://www.theproblemsite.com/book-s...

[Cami · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love pulling this book out at Christmastime and singing through the carols with my children! It gives a short explanation on each carol about where the words and music came from and then writes out the melody and the text for all the verses. It also begins with an introduction about the origin of Christmas carols in general. I learned several things by reading this short book. For example, I did not know the author of "O Holy Night" was Adolphe-Charles Adam, the French composer of many ballets including "Giselle," or that the music (not the words) for "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" was written by Felix Mendelssohn to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the invention of printing. I also noted for the first time a simple bit of punctuation in "Silent Night" that I have never before paid mind. In the third verse I always sang it as "Son of God loves pure light," but with the correct apostrophe, the meaning changes: "Son of God, love's pure light." (The pure light of God's love is like another name for Jesus, not expressing that the baby loves pure light.) So, paying closer attention to the composers, the lyrics, and reading/singing through all the verses, I have learned quite a bit and love the carols even more.