It was a very nice Christmas story. I really liked how Chita got to pick out the Christmas tree that she wanted and that Santa was going to bring it too her. It was very cute that all she really cared about and wanted for Christmas was the tree. Chita knew that Christmas was an important time to spend with family. She knew that the gifts weren't the most important thing about Christmas. It is important to tell the class that there are other holidays that people celebrate but this is the holiday that Christians celebrate in the winter time.

I want to do Elizabeth Fitzgerald Howard for my author study. ( )

I like this book because I like Christmas. This book was full of Christmas traditions and family time. The first thing I noticed was that the story takes place in Baltimore. I thought this was pretty cool considering that I live here. Seeing the author talk about different landmarks was pretty cool because I’ve been to some of those places. The language and writing used in the book was easy to follow, especially because it was short. I was able to get through this book quickly because of the short sentences and the ease of words. The story was written in an organized way because nothing seems too jumbled. One thing that I did notice was that there was a lot of thought changes. For example, “Yes, Mama, but I hope Santa Claus knows. More cookies. More cookies.” At times I would get confused and found myself going back to reread certain lines because I felt like I kept skipping things. I also thought that maybe the author used this to describe what they were doing instead of narrating the entire story, which is a different approach. The main characters were Chita, her mother and her father. The other characters were her family members. I think the characters and the story are very realistic. It’s about family traditions and Christmas, which we all go through each year. Even though Santa Claus isn’t real, we all know who he is and we all acknowledge him for the children, which is what everyone did for Chita. The plot was very organized as well because I knew exactly what was going on and I could follow along. There was no real conflict though. It was just a story about this family’s Christmas traditions. The illustrations really helped with the timeframe in which the story actually took place in. All of the women had on dresses and they men had on pants. They also didn’t have cars because they rode in carriages with horses. I liked this traditional way of doing things because I really got a feel as to what it was like back in the day around Christmas time. the underlying message was very strong and apparent to me because I realized it about half way through the story. The message was about family tradition and family time and how important that was. Every year this little girl looked forward to the same thing on Christmas and every year it happened for her. You could tell that the family always had fun times together around this time of the year and that there would be many more to come. I also think the author wanted us to know that it’s important to let a child believe in the things they want to believe. Papa and Chita went to pick out a Christmas tree and she knew that after they carved her name in it, it would be in her living room on Christmas morning because Santa brought it for her. Of course as the reader I know that Santa isn’t real but I appreciate the fact that the author didn’t even mention anything about Papa cutting down the tree and bring it home, the reader just had to infer. ( )

I really enjoyed this book for many reasons. Besides the fact that the setting was in Baltimore, the plot of the story was very cute. I think this would be a great book to read to children who are celebrating Christmas because it describes the traditions a little girl and her family participates in, every year for Christmas. One of the traditions Chita participates in is when her father mentions, “Today we will ride into the deep deep woods and find Chita’s Christmas tree. And then maybe Santa Claus will bring the tree on Christmas Eve when Chita is sleeping.” It’s a great way to introduce Christmas to young kids. The main messages of this story are Christmas traditions and family. ( )

This is a very sweet story, especially for fathers and daughters. My only complaint is that together, they think it is fun to be dishonest with Mother. Not cool. ( )