I like this book for two reasons. The first reason is that the writing is very engaging. I didn't know that there was a religious festival held before Christmas in some places, which starts on December 15th according to the book. This book gives historical information about the celebration in this part of New Mexico (Espanola), as well as a recipe for a special kind of cookies, songs, and a glossary to keep readers engaged with the celebration traditions. The second reason I like this book is because it had pictures on every page to enhance the reading. An example of this would be when it talks about carving santos, which is a folk art tradition, and there is a real picture shown of two men carving those santos. It is really neat to actually see someone making the carvings. The big idea of this book is that it is a family celebrating the nine-day religious festival held before Christmas. ( )