What is the meaning of Christmas?
Welcome to one of the December 9th stops on the blog tour for The Christmas Blanket by Ed Damiano with iRead Book Tours (schedule linked.) Be sure to follow the rest of the tour for spotlights, reviews, and a giveaway! More on that at the end of this post.
Want more? Author Ed Damiano sent us a guest post to go with our review of his other book, The Red Fence.
Please note that this post contains affiliate links, which means there is no additional cost to you if you shop using my links, but I will earn a small percentage in commission. A program-specific disclaimer is at the bottom of this post.
About the Book
The Christmas Blanket
by Ed Damiano
Published 4 December 2018
Mascot Books
Genre: Children’s Fiction
Page Count: 38
Add it to your Goodreads TBR!
What is the meaning of Christmas? That’s what eight-year-old EJ wants to know. The other kids say it’s about getting toys‚ but is it, really?
One evening, EJ’s mother takes him to the Rockefeller Center to see the lighting of the most magical tree in the world, and EJ meets someone who teaches him what Christmas is truly all about.
Amazon US | Amazon CA | Amazon UK | Mascot Books
My Review
My Rating: 4 Stars
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I was granted complimentary access to The Christmas Blanket by Ed Damiano as part of my participation in a blog tour for this title with iRead Book Tours. Thank you to all involved in affording me this opportunity! My thoughts are my own and my review is honset.
The Christmas Blanket tells the story of a little boy named EJ and how he learned the true meaning of Christmas. It’s not about physical gifts. It’s about loving others, caring for the people around you, and spreading joy. It’s a great message wrapped up in a short and sweet story that’ll appeal to little kids and their teachers and guardians.
The illustrations are colourful and interesting. They’ll definitely captivate kids and keep their attention on the page. I genuinely can’t tell if this is traditional watercolour or digital done to look like watercolour, but it does have that classic children’s book feel. The overall style with the unsteady, bold line art isn’t my favourite, but it’s certainly not bad!
I think the ratio of text to illustrations is appropriate for the target age group (pre-K to grade 1/2) but I’m not so sure on how it’s all arranged. Some pages have the text centered on one page or the other in an open spread while others centre the text on the spread itself, with lines starting on the left page and continuing on the right. This absolutely doesn’t work in digital format and the margins I saw in my PDF review copy make me concerned that there isn’t enough of a trim margin left to avoid having the crease of the book swallow parts of words.
With that said I’d like to praise whoever decided to put black text on a white background and not mess with it. You’d think this is pretty standard but I’ve reviewed a lot of children’s picture books over the last year and a half of running a book blog and it’s not. It should be, it isn’t. Thank you to whoever decided to ensure that this one is physically readable!
About the Author
Born in Newark, New Jersey, Damiano has a passion for creativity, and his stories always contain a positive message. He also wrote The Christmas Blanket, which earned him a Mom’s Choice Award. In The Christmas Blanket, his character EJ realizes the true meaning of Christmas, which is not about getting presents, but about giving back to others.
Giveaway Alert!
Enter to win a signed copy of THE CHRISTMAS BLANKET! (one winner/USA only) (ends Jan 6)
THE CHRISTMAS BLANKET by Ed Damiano Book Tour GiveawayDisclaimer: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.