Review Detail

JOY TO THE WORLD!: CHRISTMAS AROUND THE GLOBE is a rhyming adventure around the globe, showing the ways that Christmas is celebrated in different countries. The backmatter includes additional information about these celebrations and Christmas more broadly. Of note, the text does include references to the religious story of Christmas.

What I loved: The illustrations are really fantastic, with lots of detail and capturing the discussed celebrations beautifully. The rhyming text rolls off the tongue and is auditorily very pleasing. Each page spread includes the country name in the corner so that children can see where the celebration being referenced occurs. The breadth of countries included is great, with Egypt, Ethiopia, Australia, Italy, and more. Words that may be less familiar also have pronunciations included with an asterisk to aid in reading aloud.

Final verdict: With lovely, detailed illustrations and rhyming text, JOY TO THE WORLD! is a celebration of religious Christmas, as it is enjoyed around the world. The additional backmatter would be great to explore these traditions further.