A fun twist on a favorite holiday song, and a truly dazzling countdown to Christmas. On the first day of Christmas, my mommy gave to me, A puppy under the tree. Kids will be singing with joy. What a magnificent Christmas present this beautiful book will be, with its shiny foil cover, spot lamination, spectacular images that count down to the holiday, and a clever children’s variation on a favorite song. Instead of the old-fashioned partridges, maids-a-milking, and lords-a-leaping, youngsters will find colorful hula hoops, wind-up toys, furry bears, trains-a-tooting, and jelly babies. Each adorable page builds on the one before, as the cumulative song grows and pictures of the fun gifts accumulate. The grand finale features tiny pictures of all the objects in the song, arranged from top to bottom in ascending order, forming a very special Christmas tree.
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.
