Peter and Lotta's Christmas Hardcover – Picture Book, September 15, 2002

We have a small collection of Elsa Beskow's books. We found this series from the Montessori school that our children attend. We are always looking for good children's books that are "real" ,not fantasy, and enjoyable. Elsa Beskow writes many of these type of books and her books are illustrated on every page by her beautiful drawings. My young children (ages 3 - 8yrs) love her books...especially her "Peter and Lotta" books. The Peter and Lotta series starts with the "Aunt Green, Aunt Brown and Aunt Lavendar", then "Peter and Lotta's Adventure" ,"Peter and Lotta's Christmas: A Story." , and "Uncle Blue's New Boat". Other books that we have and love by Elsa Beska are "The Curious Fish", "Around the year: a picture book", "Pelle's New Suit", and "Peter's Old House" for young children and then the Children of Noisy Village series for the 7 - 12 yr. age. Unfortunately, we can't find these books at our local library, so we had to purchase them (and hardback covered books are expensive since they are printed over seas), but they were worth it and the binding and paper are excellen quality on the hardcover books.

Elsa Beskow's illustrations are beautiful and timeless, and she definitely deserves a more prominent place in children's literature. Peter and Lotta are so clearly childlike and lovely.This book shares some beautiful Swedish Christmas traditions of a bygone time -- when gifts were brought by the Christmas Goat.My only misgivings with this book are that there is one part that may be a bit scary for a very young child -- Peter, Lotta, and Uncle Blue get lost in the forest -- and that near at the end, Uncle Blue chastises one of the aunts for encouraging the children to believe in fairy stories. We just "edit" that part out when we read it to our 4-year-old.One other thing that might be useful to know if you are considering buying this book without having seen it first is that a large portion of the book takes place BETWEEN two Christmases. The book opens and closes with Christmastime, but the whole middle section is about the year between them.

my Great granddaugthers loved it

Most books these days are not as long because of children’s attention spans. My 4 year old was able to sit through this with my husband as each page is an exciting one. It is a beautiful and fun story and is a good practice of patients for both parents and children! There is plenty relatable in it for our audience as far as having a sibling, spending time with family members, hand-cooking and baking. I highly recommend this book to any lover of the sort.

I think this is one of Elsa's best and most complex stories but when she talks about the christmas goat ( in Sweden) who once brought gifts to children and then the goat removed his mask to reveal he was not real my heart sank in betrayal. I was not ready to give up the world of suspended disbelief for my 7 year old where Christmas is concerned. Even though it was not Santa, I did not want to plant that kind of seed. So be warned.

This is a sweet Christmastime story demonstrating traditions from another culture. Elsa Beskow does a fantastic job writing stories from a child's the point of view. Beautiful illistrations of quaint living. I love to read this to my child each winter.

I gave my granddaughter who is 2 1/2 several Christmas books at Thanksgiving. This was by far her favorite and the one she wanted read over & over. The story (stories really) are simple and the illustrations great. She found the Swedish Christmas Goat very funny and loved the twins.

An imaginative book about a brother and sister having Christmas with the aunts. When Aunt Lavendar tells them a bedtime story their next adventure begins.

I almost didn't buy this one, not being particularly into Christmas. But in fact that occupies a small part of what is an absolutely magical tale, and for me, Elsa Beskow's best yet!After the preparations for a 19th century Swedish Christmas - making gingerbread with the aunts and going out cutting down a fir with Uncle Blue - it's the big day and "in came the Christmas Goat with a sack... for in those days in Sweden, Father Christmas hadn't begun to give presents and a big Christmas Goat used to come instead."When the aunts tell Peter and Lotta the goat is an enchanted prince who lives in the forest, they plan to look for him...Cue a lovely tale about minding a neighbour's babies, meeting a charcoal burner and TWO Christmas goats, all accompanied by lovely paintings of Swedish interiors and the countryside. (On the pages of text are b/w silhouettes and line drawings.)Beautiful!

sweet, nostalgic, charming