The Spider's Gift

For Ukrainians, spiders are a symbol of diligence and modesty. In "The Spider's Gift," Eric Kimmel pays special homage to the much maligned little arachnid. Weaving together familiar elements with cultural components, Eric presents a magical tale of holiday wonder.Katrusya is upset that there won't be a Christmas this year. Who wouldn't be upset! "No Christmas!" she overhears her grandfather say. Grandfather explains that the harvest was poor. There's money for food, but not for presents.Grandmother and sister Annie promise they can make their own presents. But they need to have a Christmas tree, Katrusya insists. So she and Grandfather walk deep in the woods, "between the tall, silent pines." They search for the perfect tree. At last they bring one home. All day the family decorates the tree, weave pine boughs into wreaths, and bake kolach . Father even plays Christmas songs on his bandura. But it seems that's not all they bring home! On Christmas Eve, they discover in the tree hundreds of baby spiders spinning tiny webs "finer than a baby's hair"! Will Christmas be ruined? Katrusya begs Mother not to throw out the tree. But no one could imagine the miracle about to unfold.Ukrainian artist Katya Krenina works in acrylic, offering rich traditional illustrations in this special story about family and kindness, and the real magic of Christmas.By the way, according to the author's note, "Veselykh Sviat" means Happy Holidays!

We bought this for family abroad in Ukraine for Christmas. It is a great story full of legend and magic, everything a Christmas story should be. When the family has no money for Christmas, they at least can cut down a tree out of the forest. Little known to them there are baby spiders in the tree that hatch when brought into the warm house. Despite the mother wanting it thrown out, they keep it for a few hours. It also talks about traditions of Christmas like food and church. When they return from church the tree is covered in webs and the spiders are gone. The webs turn to silver. A magical story that, unlike many Christmas stories, isn't too long or overly detailed. My little ones can sit through this.

I bought this because years ago the White House had an international-themed Christmas, with trees decorated in the custom of different countries. The tree from the Ukraine featured spider webs and silver spiders all over it. No one explained why. Turns out it is based on an old Ukrainian folktale. A lot of fun for all children, especially those of Russian descent.

I was asked to do a short presentation on Christian Orthodox Christmas in my daughter's daycare. Few days before the presentation, I came across this wonderful book, ordered it and it arrived the next day!!! It was a huge hit with the 3 -5 year-olds and they loved the story. Being Ukrainian myself, this book could not have been more appropriate for the occasion and it holds a special place in my heart. Btw, my younger daughter's name is also Katya - Katrusya :)

Given as a gift so I can't speak of the story itself. Brought tears to her eyes as her family is from Ukraine and knows the story from them. The illustrations are beautiful and the book arrived in perfect condition. Wish I could say more about the story, but I didn't get a chance to read

I used this book in my classroom to go with a Christmas Around the World lesson. Beautiful pictures and well written for young children. My teenage daughter saw it on my desk, picked it up and read it and she too enjoyed the pictures and story!

Nice story, but a little to long for Mrs. Claus for story time.

I ordered this for a dementia unit at a nursing home our theme this Christmas was different Christmas traditions. Many of the folks love stories and several have Ukrainian roots so this story worked nicely for us.

My grandchildren love it

A nice story, My grandchildren did really enjoy it and the art work was pleasant as well. I do recommend this book