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An Island Christmas
Rosie's preparations for Christmas on the island of Trinidad include picking red petals for the sorrel drink, and singing along with the parang band.
"Stock portrays the joyful activity in freely painted watercolors that beautifully evoke the island setting and vibrant, warmhearted characters. A welcome contribution." -- Kirkus Reviews
"Stock portrays the joyful activity in freely painted watercolors that beautifully evoke the island setting and vibrant, warmhearted characters. A welcome contribution." -- Kirkus Reviews
30 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 1992
About the author
Lynn Joseph
127 books117 followersLynn Joseph's adventure travel, island hopping, and lifelong wandering have a purpose. And it's not just to find the best crepes, gelato, and champagne! She swears! Lynn writes about the places she falls in love with. She's discovered in her travels that everyone is looking for a romance and a happy ending! Especially romance authors! Her USA home base is the charming Ferry Village in South Portland, Maine, and her international home base is the Caribbean Island of Tobago, where she’s known as the Mermaid Queen. Lynn believes in protagonists of color traveling and changing the world. And falling in love, of course! She almost always finds a way to work in crepes, gelato, or champagne as part of the story (to support the research!) If you're ready for some sweet romance, join Lynn on her journey of love, food, and romantic destinations (not necessarily in that order).
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
November 29, 2018
A young Trinidadian girl named Rosie narrates this story of Christmas as it is celebrated on her island home, paying tribute to many of the holiday traditions observed there, while also spinning a tale of family warmth and love. Opening one sunny day as she is dispatched to gather sorrel, to make the special Christmas sorrel drink, the book touches upon the many other foods prepared at this time of year - blackcurrant cake, soursop ice cream - as well as the seasonal activities - decorating the painted guava branch that serves as Christmas tree, listening to the wonderful songs sung by the wandering parang bands - and concludes with the celebrations on the big day itself, including the extended family's church attendance.
A lovely look at Christmas traditions in a part of the world that doesn't get as much attention, holiday-book wise, as more northern climates, An Island Christmas is both educational and fun! The reader gets a strong sense of Rosie's tight-knit family life - undoubtedly based on the childhood of author Lynn Joseph, herself born in Trinidad - while also learning a little bit about customs that might (in the case of most American children) be unfamiliar. The narration is done in what I assume is Trinidadian English - "De first day of Christmas holidays and de sun shining bright bright" - which might take a little getting used to for some younger children, but in the end the text works very well, and is nicely complemented by artwork from Catherine Stock, whose other Caribbean-themed picture-books include Tap-Tap and Painted Dreams (both set in Haiti). All in all, a sweet little Christmas book, one from a tradition that doesn't get as much attention as it perhaps deserves. Recommended to young readers looking for Christmas stories with a Caribbean theme, or from non-northern climes in general.
A lovely look at Christmas traditions in a part of the world that doesn't get as much attention, holiday-book wise, as more northern climates, An Island Christmas is both educational and fun! The reader gets a strong sense of Rosie's tight-knit family life - undoubtedly based on the childhood of author Lynn Joseph, herself born in Trinidad - while also learning a little bit about customs that might (in the case of most American children) be unfamiliar. The narration is done in what I assume is Trinidadian English - "De first day of Christmas holidays and de sun shining bright bright" - which might take a little getting used to for some younger children, but in the end the text works very well, and is nicely complemented by artwork from Catherine Stock, whose other Caribbean-themed picture-books include Tap-Tap and Painted Dreams (both set in Haiti). All in all, a sweet little Christmas book, one from a tradition that doesn't get as much attention as it perhaps deserves. Recommended to young readers looking for Christmas stories with a Caribbean theme, or from non-northern climes in general.
December 11, 2020
A beautiful story of a family's preparations for Christmas in the island nation of Trindad and Tobago. I loved learning a little bit about the traditions Trinidadians have, and enjoyed the beautiful, happy illustrations.
December 6, 2021
An early book to the multicultural and global literature front for children. Written in 1992 it gained some attention but not to the extent that it deserved. I was able to purchase a new copy recently. This story describes Christmas from two siblings points of view who live in the Caribbean. Gorgeous illustrations by Catherine Stock enhance the lovely text by Lynn Joseph.
Highly recommended.
Highly recommended.
July 2, 2012
Main Characters: Rosie, Mom, Dad, and Ragboy (Rosie’s brother).
First Person Point of View: From Rosie
Setting: Island in the southern Caribbean Sea during Christmas season.
Genre: Traditional / Multicultural Literature
Lexile level: 660L – Upper Elementary
Plot: Rosie’s preparations for Christmas on the island of Trinidad begin early. In the beginning, Rosie is sent by her mother to pick red petals for the sorrel drink, which is a special dark red, aromatic Christmas drink, with a tangy taste. After picking, pealing, and soaking the red petals, Rosie’s family sings along with the parang band – which are bands of people who sing and play traditional instruments in the streets. Rosie’s mother prepares a long-standing Christmas specialty - black currant cake – on Christmas Eve, while her dad goes to town for some Christmas shopping. In the meantime, both Rosie and Ragboy paint and decorate their Christmas – guava tree. On Christmas Eve, all the family sits together around their Christmas tree to enjoy aloe pies and some sorrel. In the morning, Rosie and Ragboy open their presents and later in their Christmas church best attend mass along with her family.
Main Ideas:
Christmas Traditions
Travel and Places
Recommended: I would recommend “An Island Christmas” because it contains tells of the traditions of how Christmas is celebrated in Trinidad, an island in the southern Caribbean Sea. In addition, this book is written with rhyme prose, which is great for read-out-loud. Students, therefore, can learn about how Christmas is celebrated distinctively in the Caribbean, while understanding that non-Standard English can also be incorporated in literature.
Personal Reaction: Reading “An Island Christmas” made me reminisce about my childhood growing up with Latin American Christmas traditions. My preparation for Christmas include attending posadas, singing villancicos, and decorating our Christmas tree with a pesebre. As a whole, I discovered distinctive forms in which Christmas is celebrated around the world – something that should also be taught to students.
Satisfying Concluding Statement: Learn about a wonderful Christmas without snow.
First Person Point of View: From Rosie
Setting: Island in the southern Caribbean Sea during Christmas season.
Genre: Traditional / Multicultural Literature
Lexile level: 660L – Upper Elementary
Plot: Rosie’s preparations for Christmas on the island of Trinidad begin early. In the beginning, Rosie is sent by her mother to pick red petals for the sorrel drink, which is a special dark red, aromatic Christmas drink, with a tangy taste. After picking, pealing, and soaking the red petals, Rosie’s family sings along with the parang band – which are bands of people who sing and play traditional instruments in the streets. Rosie’s mother prepares a long-standing Christmas specialty - black currant cake – on Christmas Eve, while her dad goes to town for some Christmas shopping. In the meantime, both Rosie and Ragboy paint and decorate their Christmas – guava tree. On Christmas Eve, all the family sits together around their Christmas tree to enjoy aloe pies and some sorrel. In the morning, Rosie and Ragboy open their presents and later in their Christmas church best attend mass along with her family.
Main Ideas:
Christmas Traditions
Travel and Places
Recommended: I would recommend “An Island Christmas” because it contains tells of the traditions of how Christmas is celebrated in Trinidad, an island in the southern Caribbean Sea. In addition, this book is written with rhyme prose, which is great for read-out-loud. Students, therefore, can learn about how Christmas is celebrated distinctively in the Caribbean, while understanding that non-Standard English can also be incorporated in literature.
Personal Reaction: Reading “An Island Christmas” made me reminisce about my childhood growing up with Latin American Christmas traditions. My preparation for Christmas include attending posadas, singing villancicos, and decorating our Christmas tree with a pesebre. As a whole, I discovered distinctive forms in which Christmas is celebrated around the world – something that should also be taught to students.
Satisfying Concluding Statement: Learn about a wonderful Christmas without snow.
May 21, 2010
Joseph, Lynn. An Island Christmas. Illus. by Catherine Stock. Clarion, 1992. New York. Island of Trinidad. Picture Book.
Lynn Joseph captures the true essence of Christmas in her story, An Island Christmas, about a Caribbean family's holiday traditions. Through the use of grammatical structure and word choice, which reflect a gentle island rhythm, Joseph transports her audience to the ease and warmth of the Caribbean Island of Trinidad. Accompanied by Catherine Stock's beautiful water colored pictures, full of bright colors and images so full of life that they almost breathe; this book portrays a charming image of a tropical Christmas. Joseph not only entertains her audience with this delightful story but she also educates them by introducing several holiday treats and customs in the story dissimilar to the standard American ideals, such as, sorrel a sort of sugary drink made from flowers, and the Panaderos, similar to carolers, marching through the neighborhood singing traditional Parang songs.
Although Christmas traditions in the story are very different from our own, for instance, sunshine instead of snow, and black current cakes instead of sugar cookies, by showing these differences Joseph exemplifies an even stronger similarity, that of human nature. For instance, on Christmas Eve Rosie and her little brother, much like most children the night before Christmas, are too excited to sleep. Before Christmas we see that Rosie's Mom is always busy cooking and cleaning for the upcoming holiday, much like most Moms before a big event. Likewise, most everyone can relate to Rosie's excitement about the various holiday treats, treats she only gets but once a year.
Joseph not only does a wonderful job portraying the Christmas traditions of Trinidad, but she also exemplifies and honors the universality of celebration and family.
Lynn Joseph captures the true essence of Christmas in her story, An Island Christmas, about a Caribbean family's holiday traditions. Through the use of grammatical structure and word choice, which reflect a gentle island rhythm, Joseph transports her audience to the ease and warmth of the Caribbean Island of Trinidad. Accompanied by Catherine Stock's beautiful water colored pictures, full of bright colors and images so full of life that they almost breathe; this book portrays a charming image of a tropical Christmas. Joseph not only entertains her audience with this delightful story but she also educates them by introducing several holiday treats and customs in the story dissimilar to the standard American ideals, such as, sorrel a sort of sugary drink made from flowers, and the Panaderos, similar to carolers, marching through the neighborhood singing traditional Parang songs.
Although Christmas traditions in the story are very different from our own, for instance, sunshine instead of snow, and black current cakes instead of sugar cookies, by showing these differences Joseph exemplifies an even stronger similarity, that of human nature. For instance, on Christmas Eve Rosie and her little brother, much like most children the night before Christmas, are too excited to sleep. Before Christmas we see that Rosie's Mom is always busy cooking and cleaning for the upcoming holiday, much like most Moms before a big event. Likewise, most everyone can relate to Rosie's excitement about the various holiday treats, treats she only gets but once a year.
Joseph not only does a wonderful job portraying the Christmas traditions of Trinidad, but she also exemplifies and honors the universality of celebration and family.
May 23, 2010
Christmas in July? That's how it seems in Lynn Joseph's, "An Island Christmas." She describes the story of Christmas time and traditions that take place on the Carribean Island off the coast of Trinidad. Through her use of native tongue and casual sentence structure, it is like she is there talking to you. If you are having a hard time with her style of writing, luckily there are decent watercolor illustrations that will accompany the story. Several days before the main holiday, two siblings busily prepare for the climatic Christmas morning by collecting native fruit, building a Christmas tree, and listening to the local band play up their street.
An Island Christmas is a good book if you are trying to explore different Christmas cultures and traditions other than the traditional United States Christmas. However, if you were looking for an exciting book with outstanding illustrations, you might want to look elsewhere.
An Island Christmas is a good book if you are trying to explore different Christmas cultures and traditions other than the traditional United States Christmas. However, if you were looking for an exciting book with outstanding illustrations, you might want to look elsewhere.
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May 24, 2010An Island Chritmass
By Clairion Book
Illustrated By: Catherine Stock.
The book talked about the different ways countries celebrate the holidays in their own way. This makes me interested in then various way countries that use a lunar calendar. The children are so excited for the big feast even though they don’t have presents to open for Christmas morning, but the food that they make is so special for the children. It reminds me when I was a children growing in Vietnam we are a poor country we lucky just to have food to eat. When it come to holiday we will have some meat or special food to eat. It makes me think for us to read different country and see how they are special make us appreciate more in American. By reading with ethnic book it helps me understand the different way the others country live, and how they lived to have better understanding about others counties.
By Clairion Book
Illustrated By: Catherine Stock.
The book talked about the different ways countries celebrate the holidays in their own way. This makes me interested in then various way countries that use a lunar calendar. The children are so excited for the big feast even though they don’t have presents to open for Christmas morning, but the food that they make is so special for the children. It reminds me when I was a children growing in Vietnam we are a poor country we lucky just to have food to eat. When it come to holiday we will have some meat or special food to eat. It makes me think for us to read different country and see how they are special make us appreciate more in American. By reading with ethnic book it helps me understand the different way the others country live, and how they lived to have better understanding about others counties.
May 21, 2010
The narrator of the book is an excited young girl from the island of Trinidad, off the coast of Venezuela. She gives a snap-shot view of her family's Christmas celebrations. Though the plot is simple and somewhat uneventful, it's fun to see the excitement of Christmas through the eyes of a child. It's also interesting to observe the similarities and differences in the holiday traditions of another culture. The water color paintings are fairly realistic and give life to a rather uninteresting text. Though I probably won't read the book again, and I doubt that it would hold the attention of my children more than once, It was kind of a fun one-time read.
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October 25, 2012i like the book it should be in the worlds best book and i wish i cloud have this book and that if you read this book your heart will go boom the book made me feel very happy but now i want keep the book for ever i love this book so much i will love it like it is my child and my baby if i lose that book my heart will brake so then i will cry and cry and cry so i hope that i wont lose this book. but you know what i have some thing that i love more than this and i will die for and that thing is my family and my family is micky jacky tony me patty kathy stef daneil luis kristy and my mom and dad so you know my family. ps my mom has 10 kids love ,prettybear
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October 21, 2017This story is told heavily in vernacular (it takes place in Trinidad, where the author is from).
Despite being basically an extended list of preparation and celebration of Christmas in Trinidad, the narrative is engaging. The Author's Note at the end adds some explanations, but it all feels comprehensible even without the that.
My favorite part was probably their reuse of an old guava branch, stood in a pot of dirt and painted with white shoe polish, to approximate a snowy Christmas tree.
Despite being basically an extended list of preparation and celebration of Christmas in Trinidad, the narrative is engaging. The Author's Note at the end adds some explanations, but it all feels comprehensible even without the that.
My favorite part was probably their reuse of an old guava branch, stood in a pot of dirt and painted with white shoe polish, to approximate a snowy Christmas tree.
April 10, 2012
Ok....I liked the voice of the narrator....
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December 21, 2019There are "plenty to things to do" as Rosie helps prepare for Christmas and then celebrates with her family. Read my full review here.
April 11, 2019
Alissa liked their treehouse where they grew flowers for Tante.
February 18, 2020
I LOVE THIS BOOK.
October 15, 2020
Lovely watercolor illustrations paired with musical prose. I loved learning about the Christmas traditions in Trinidad and Tobago.
January 1, 2023
Great children’s book 📚! Works to educate and inform about a traditional Caribbean Christmas. The richness of family and simplicity of the holiday truly capture the meaning of the holiday.
October 8, 2025
I enjoyed this story, especially to see how people living in a hot climate celebrate Christmas.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews