Nicky's Christmas Surprise

by Harriet Ziefert

The farm animals help Nicky the kitten decide what to get his mother for Christmas, in illustrations featuring flaps.

Genres: Christmas

16 pages, Paperback

First published November 6, 1985

About the author

Harriet Ziefert grew up in North Bergen, New Jersey, where she attended the local schools. She graduated from Smith College, then received a Masters degree in Education from New York University.

For many years, Ziefert was an elementary school teacher. She taught most grades from kindergarten to fifth grade. "I liked it," she said, but she stopped teaching when she had her own sons. When her children were older, Ziefert wanted "a bigger arena" for her work. She went to work at a publishing company, Scholastic in New York City, developing materials for teacher's guides for kindergarten language arts and social studies programs.

"About twelve years ago," says Ziefert in a 1995 interview, "I tried to get a job as an editor, but no one would hire me as a trade editor. So I decided to write my own books." Since then, she has written several hundred books, mostly picture books and easy-to-read books. "I write books very quickly," she says, "in about twelve hours. I rewrite them three times over three days, and then they're done." She writes about twenty books a year.

Reviews

[J9 · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun story with flaps that hold the different animals that Nicky talks to. A lift the flap book is a big favorite with my twin 3 yr olds and this was no exception. Somewhere around a level 1 reading level, it's a Christmas story you can read all year long. My 5 yr old likes to read it to his little brothers.

[Dawni · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another childhood favorite. We read this book so much that a couple of the flaps had to be taped down to keep them on the page and two flaps are completely missing. My daughter loves it just as much as I did.