GREAT JOY By Kate DiCamillo.

Great Joy








Customers review:

• This is a truly moving book. It brought tears to my eyes. The girl's love and concern for a man that no one else cares for are a great lesson for all kids (and their parents!)
• Having known sensitive children like the young girl in this story, I feel the author and the illustrator together have perfectly captured the concerns and the emotions of the young girl. It is masterful how the author built to the burst of "GREAT JOY" through the preceding pages of the young girl's questions, clearly stated feelings and actions in contrast to the "rush" of her mother. I look forward to sharing this with special young children in my life as the holiday season approaches.
  
• This is a beautiful and sensitive Christmas picture book that is not about snowmen or reindeer or Santa Claus. It gets to the heart of Christmas with a few lines of story and beautiful illustrations of a simpler time in our history on each page. Without being preachy, it preaches a clear message that Christmas is about caring and welcoming the stranger into our lives. Adults may love it even more than children do.
• This proved to be an excellent choice for the "round robin" style Christmas meeting of our book discussion group. All members of the group are adults, and they were enthralled with the book's simple story line so sensitively presented, it's page size illustrations that forced readers to fully examine each picture through the "fog" that seemed to bring the illustrator's Russian background to the fore. This is a winner.

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
In her first picture book, America’s beloved storyteller Kate DiCamillo
reunites with Bagram Ibatoulline to offer readers an unforgettable holiday gift.

It is just before Christmas when an organ grinder and monkey appear on
the street corner outside Frances’s apartment. Frances can see them from
her window and, sometimes, when it’s quiet, she can hear their music. In fact, Frances can’t stop thinking about them, especially after she sees the man and his monkey sleeping outside on the cold street at midnight. When the day of the Christmas pageant arrives, and it’s Frances’s turn to
speak, everyone waits silently. But all Frances can think about is the organ grinder’s sad eyes — until, just in time, she finds the perfect words to
share. Newbery Medalist Kate DiCamillo pairs once again with acclaimed
artist Bagram Ibatoulline as she presents a timeless story of compassion
and joy.

About the Author
Kate DiCamillo is the author of THE MIRACULOUS JOURNEY OF EDWARD TULANE, winner of a BOSTON GLOBE-HORN BOOK Award; THE TALE OF DESPEREAUX, winner of the Newbery Medal; BECAUSE OF WINN-DIXIE, a Newbery Honor winner; THE TIGER RISING, a National Book Award Finalist; and four books starring Mercy Watson, including a Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor Book. She lives in Minneapolis.

Bagram Ibatoulline is the illustrator of THE MIRACULOUS JOURNEY OF EDWARD TULANE, as well as THE SERPENT CAME TO GLOUCESTER by M. T. Anderson, HANA IN THE TIME OF THE TULIPS by Deborah Noyes, THE ANIMAL HEDGE by Paul Fleischman, THE NIGHTINGALE retold by Stephen Mitchell, and CROSSING by Philip Booth. He lives in Gouldsboro, Pennsylvania.

New York Times -In From The Cold