December 03, 2012

Patricia Scarry: The Sweet Smell of Christmas

One morning, Little Bear sat up in bd and sniff and sniffed with his nose. "Something wonderful is going to happen," he said. "My nose tells me so."

What could be sweeter than following a little bear as his parents prepare for Christmas: baking cookies, chopping down a tree, serving cocoa to carolers. And if we can't participate, at least we can sniff the cookies, tree and cocoa along with Little Bear.

And, if you are five-year-old me, lick the hot cocoa sticker too.

So when I saw that The Sweet Smell of Christmas was re-printed in 2003, I had to buy my son a copy. The story and illustratios are as charming as I remember. (Unfortunately, at nearly ten years old, many of the books have lost their scent. On the other hand, no one is tempted to lick the hot cocoa.)

The bears live in an Alpine chalet near a little Alpine village full of bears. Mommy bakes a pie. Father takes Little bear to cut down a tree, which they decorate. After dinner the caroling bears visit. The bears go to bed and a (very human) Santa visits. Santa leaves mountains of presents. Holy wow, Santa left more presents for the bear than my son gets from Santa, his parents, grandparents and godparents! And an orange.