My Favorite Christmas Book

I love Christmas picture books. It was hard for me to decide on a favorite because I have lots. I decided to pick this one because it was one of the first Christmas picture books I fell in love with. It's called The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey by Susan Wojciechowski. First of all, the art work is absolutely beautiful. It is a visually gorgeous book, but the story is equally lovely if not more so. It is about a widow and her son who ask the local carpenter to make them a new Nativity for Christmas. The carpenter, Jonathan Toomey, is a sad and bitter widower, but his heart is opened again as he carves each piece of the Nativity. It is a sweet story about the healing and peace that comes as we open our hearts to the love that was born on Christmas night.

Women who changed the world, Ros Horton & Sally Simmons

“I am not afraid. I was born to do this.” Joan of Arc

“I believe in hard work. It keeps the wrinkles out of the mind and spirit.” Helena Rubinstein

“Her spirit will endure as long as man can read and stories can be told of the woman who showed the world there are no boundaries to courage and faith.” Senator Lister Hill of Alabama, speaking about Helen Keller

“Love begins at home, and it is not how much we do, but how much love we put in the action that we do.” Mother Teresa

“Despite everything, I believe that people are really good at heart.” Anne Frank

This book features 50 women who “are outstanding individuals who achieved exceptional things in the major fields of human endeavour—politics, literature, art, science, music, social reform, entertainment, sport, and adventure.” Each woman’s life story is told in a 3-page mini-biography. I enjoyed this format and even made a list of people, movies, and songs I want to look up now that I’ve read a small introduction. Some of the women I found interesting to learn about include Cleopatra, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Margaret Bourke-White, Katharine Hepburn, Rosa Parks, Oprah Winfrey, and surprisingly, Madonna.

Other well-known women featured in this book:
Amelia Earhart
Benazir Bhutto
Billie Holiday
Dian Fossey
Diana, Princess of Wales
Eleanor Roosevelt
Elizabeth I
Eva Peron
Florence Nightingale
Isabella I of Spain
Jane Austen
Margaret Thatcher
Marie Curie
Marilyn Monroe
Susan B. Anthony
Virginia Woolf