The Animals' Merry Christmas

I was so excited to see this finally reprinted, I immediately bought a copy for myself and my one-year-old niece. Upon it's arrival, though, I was deeply disappointed to find that it is not an exact reprint. Several stories, including two of my *absolute* favorites, are missing. So, if you adore "The Christmas Lamb," "Mr. Hedgehog's Christmas Feeling," or "The Lion's Plum Pudding" beware that they are MISSING!!! I really wish another review would have mentioned this, because I would have thought twice about it, so I felt I must post this so you know exactly what you are getting. It is still a lovely book, and I cherish many of the stories that are there, but the ones that are missing leave a very big hole as far as I'm concerned.

This was my sister's and my favorite holiday book. We are so excited to be able to share it with our latest generation. As soon as I learned it was in reprint again I immediately ordered three copies. I was delighted when they arrived to see that the book has stood up over time and all our favorites were still there. The story of The Bare Polar Bear was our most beloved. But I was thrilled to reread the "Terrible Teddy Bear" and "The Golden Sled." And who could forget "The Goose That Stuffed Herself" and the elephants Trumpet and Clarinda in "A Very Big Christmas." This truly is a must have for children between 4 and 10 who celebrate Christmas to have on their bookselves. The stories and illustrations will live in their memories for decades as they have with my sister, mother and me. It is wonderful to be reunited with such wonderful old friends.

Four stars because this book is so wonderful, but Golden Books has a nasty habit of making some deletions when reprinting their classics. There are also a few pages missing from the reprinted "Santa's Toy Shop," another Christmas favorite.

Four stars anyway because the deleted stories were not particular favorites of mine, but people who remember the original will be disappointed. Better this, however, than no Richard Scarry, and I do not want to discourage anyone from purchasing this marvelous book and reading it to the current generation of children. This is my 60th Christmas, and few of my Christmas memories are more precious than those wrapped up with this book.

My older brother had this book back in the 1950's. The cover opened and the Lion popped up, sitting atop the chimney! We all loved it and I bought it for my children in the 70's. The cover changed, and no pop-up anymore, but all else was the same. Over the years I have probably purchased 20 of these books for nieces, nephews and friends. It is my family's most cherished Christmas book. My children, ages 37 and 41, read stories to each other over the phone at Christmas since they live in different states! This particular volume was purchased for a friend's new granddaughter. Some of the stories are no longer included, but it is still well worth having! I consider it a staple of childhood (at any age!)

This book is still lovely and I recommend it BUT it is missing my favorite story - Mr. Lion's Plum Pudding. The Naughty Reindeer, The Golden Sled and The Goat who Played Santa Claus are here. And it will still make a nice new baby/new family gift. Interestingly I searched on google for the story and it gave me this amazon link.

As a child, my mother first read these wonderful stories to me, then we read them together and then I read them on my own--even after I might have been considered 'too old' for children's books. Now I am repeating this same pattern with my daughter. This wonderful collection of funny, sweet and charmingly illustrated stories and poems brings spirit of the holiday season to life without being ponderous, overly sentimental or cliche. I'm so glad to see that it is available again for new generations to enjoy.

What a wonderful book, especially for the younger reader! This great Richard Scarry classic is printed exactly as it was 60 years ago, when I gleefully received it as a Christmas present. It has remained one of my favorite early books of all time, with its charming and humorous animal drawings, colorfully printed, and its uplifting, entertaining stories. I have purchased this reprint for a Christmas gift for one of my grandchildren, and look forward to sitting with her while she reads it back to me!

I grew up on this book - starting early in December my father would read one story of my choosing every night all the way up until Christmas Eve. There is even a Christmas cookie poem in here that I memorized around age 6 that I still remember today at age 33. This is an excellent book to build traditions on and it has amazingly cute little stories. The original version that my father had from 1950 needed to be restored so in the meantime I bought this one for him just as a sentimental gift.

Just know that this book is a very wordy book. I got it thinking it would be good for our almost 2 year old. She LOVES her Richard Scarry books so I thought this would be great to have for the holidays. It's a cute book with interesting stories, but it's not for age 2. It says reading level 4-8, I see that now!! :) We'll keep it for a couple years and bring it out again when it's more age appropriate! happy holidays.

The stories left in the book were as we remembered. However, they left some of the very special ones out. I would be interested in knowing why as it appears to have a political agenda.