A Child’s Christmas in Wales (New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Books (Awards))

Fifty years after its first publication in book form, Dylan Thomas’s timeless prose poem is echoed by the rolling, evocative images of Caldecott Honor artist Chris Raschka — a beautiful gift for book lovers.

Bring out the tall tales now that we told by the fire as the gaslight bubbled like a diver. . . .

There are always Uncles at Christmas. And Aunts, of course, who might sing a little loudly after dinner. There are the neighborhood cats “sleek and long as jaguars and horrible-whiskered,” the carols to sing at eerie houses, the Useful Presents and the Useless Presents, and the endless snow “shawling out of the ground.” First published in HARPER’S BAZAAR some fifty years ago, A CHILD’S CHRISTMAS IN WALES showcases Dylan Thomas’s genius for language and remains the poet’s most popular prose work in the United States. Chris Raschka’s fluid torn-paper illustrations honor the poet’s words, evoking their musical cadences and bringing us a fresh appreciation for this most lyric work.