A collection of fiction, poetry, and nonfiction, most not previously anthologized, ranging in theme from the nostalgic to examinations of the dysfunctional side of the Christmas season.

Are you looking for a refreshingly different children's Christmas musical? Twelve Days of Christmas is certain to delight you with its ingenious story that combines the captivating images of a popular carol with religious symbols for each day, adapted in rhyme and riddle from an ancient poem. By Jean Anne Shafferman and Anna Laura Page and approximately 30 minutes long, it features nine unison arrangements of traditional carols and hymns (some opt. 2-part), 13 short rhymed speaking parts, and narration for a Storyteller. Fully orchestrated recordings are also available. Grades K-8.

Take a holiday trip to Kentucky! As each of the twelve days of Christmas pass, VERY unusual gifts from around the state pile up. Lucky readers are in for a wild countdown!

“A gigantic gift full of literary goodies . . . holiday stories poems, songs and essays, there should be something for anyone who opens this package.” —Kentucky Monthly A celebration of holiday poetry, fiction, essays, recipes, and songs by more than sixty of the Bluegrass state’s finest writers. Gathered here are writings from some of the legendary voices of Kentucky—and the nation—as well as original Christmas stories and poetry from some of the state’s emerging talents. Among the contributors to this handsome collection are Kentucky’s visionaries, storytellers, historians, singers, cooks, children’s authors, and poets, including all five Kentucky Poet Laureates. A delight for anyone interested in Kentucky literature, history, or traditions, A Kentucky Christmas promises to be a wonderful holiday gift, a treasured family keepsake, and a necessary addition for libraries and for personal collections. “This book could accurately be called ‘A Kentucky Christmas Tree,’ since it is a structure with various good-sized branches, all hung or draped with bits of holiday cheer.”—Appalachian Center Newsletter “Celebrates Kentucky traditions from the first Christmas on the Falls of the Ohio to settlement days along the Cumberland to Appalachian country store windows on Christmas Eve.”—Floyd County Times “This cornucopia of a book will appeal to all who count the season as the best time of the year.”—Southern Living “This book will become a holiday classic.”—Suite101.com

On each of the twelve days of her Christmas visit with her cousin Mike, Abby sends her parents a letter describing the history, geography, animals, and interesting sights of North Carolina. Uses the cumulative pattern of the traditional carol to present amusing state trivia at the end of each letter.

Frank C. Brown organized the North Carolina Folklore Society in 1913. Both Dr. Brown and the Society collected stores from individuals—Brown through his classes at Duke University and through his summer expeditions in the North Carolina mountains, and the Society by interviewing its members—and also levied on the previous collections made by friends and members of the Society. The result was a large mass of texts and notes assembled over a period of nearly forty years and covering every aspect of local tradition. members of the Society. The result was a large mass of texts and notes assembled over a period of nearly forty years and covering every aspect of local tradition.

William writes a letter home each of the twelve days he spends exploring Virginia at Christmastime, as his cousin Madison shows him everything from a cardinal in a dogwood tree to eight bluegrass fiddlers fiddling to twelve Eastern Shore plovers looping. Includes facts about Virginia.