Good evening and welcome to Inside the Cover, the locally produced show for readers and book lovers.

Thank you for joining us.

During Season Six we did a special holiday show during which I read Twas the Night Before Christmas by Clement Clarke Moore.

We had fun decorating our se and the show was well received, so we have decided to d another holiday edition for you.

It is now time to go inside the cover.

Our first book is The Velveteen Rabbit by Marjorie Williams.

It is probably more of an Easter book, but I wanted to add this book to our program for multiple reasons.

First, my copy has been in the family since 1984, when my sister gave i to our youngest son for Easter.

The book cost all of $2.50.

Second, I enjoyed learning about the author and the book's illustrator, William Nicholson.

Margery William Bianco was an English American author, primarily of popular children's books, a professional writer since the age of 19, she achieved lasting fame at the age of 41 with the publication of The Velveteen Rabbit.

Sir William Newsome Pryor Nicholson, who illustrated the book, was a British painter of still life, landscapes and portraits of some distinction.

His illustrations for The Velveteen Rabbit are really quite distinctive and beautiful.

In the book.

The rabbit in question was a Christmas gift wedged in the top of a young boy's stocking.

In my view the message of the book is love.

As explained by the Skin Horse, another of the boys toys: ‘Real isn't how you were made.

said the Skin Horse.

‘Real is a thing that happens to you when a child loves you for a long, long time.

Not just to play with but really loves you, then you become real.

‘Give me my bunny, he said.

‘You mustn't say that he isn't a toy.

He's real.

When the littl rabbit heard that, he was happy.

For he knew that what the Skin Horse had said was true.

At last the nursery magic had happened to him, and he was a toy no longer.

He was real.

The boy himself has said it.

Our next book is The Pola Express by Chris Van Allsburg.

Van Allsburg, a favorite author of our three sons, is an American writer an illustrator of children's books.

He is the recipient of tw Caldecott Medals for his work, including The Polar Express.

Van Allsburg was born on June 18th, 1949 to a Dutch family in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

The Polar Express was published in 1985, and it tells the story of a magic train ride on Christmas Eve that takes a boy to the North Pole to receive a special gift from Santa Claus.

‘I knew that I coul have any gift I could imagine, but the thing I wanted most for Christma was not inside Santas giant bag What I wanted more than anything was the one silver bell from Santa's sleigh.

When I asked, Santa smiled and he gave me a hug and told an elf to cut a bell from the reindeers harness.

The elf tossed it up to Santa.

He stood holding the bell high above him and called out ‘the first gift of Christmas!

Along the way home on the Polar Express, the boy lost the bell.

However-- ‘On Christmas morning, my little siste Sara and I opened our presents.

When it looked as if everything had been unwrapped.

Sara found on last small box behind the tree.

It had my name on it.

Inside was the silver bell.

There was a note.

‘Found this on the seat of my sleigh.

Fix that hole in your pocket!

Signed Mr.

C. I shook the bell.

It made the most beautiful sound my sister and I had ever heard.

But my mother said, ‘oh, that's too bad.

‘Yes, said my father, ‘it's broken.

When I'd shaken the bell, m parents had not heard a sound.

At one time most of my friends could hear the bell, but as years passed, it fell silent for all of them.

Even Sara found one Christmas that she could no longer hear its sweet sound.

Though I've grown old, the bell still rings for me as it does for all who truly believe.

Our final book is How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Doctor Seuss, Theodore Seuss Geisel wrote and illustrate more than 60 children's books.

Born in 1904 he died on September 24th, 1991, in San Diego.

His books sold over 600 million copies and were translated into more than 20 languages by the time of his death.

Grinch was published in 1957.

The Grinch lived in North Whoville, and he hated Christmas.

‘The Grinch hated Christmas the whole Christmas season.

Now please don't ask why.

No one quite knows the reason.

It could be his head wasn't screwed on just right.

It could be, perhaps, and his shoes were too tight.

But I think that the most likely reason of all may have been that his heart was two sizes too small.

And then the Grinch proceeds to try to rui all the Christmases in Whoville by taking down the trees and stealing the gifts.

‘But every who down in Whoville, the tall and the small, was singing without any presents at all.

He hadn't stopped Christmas from coming.

It came.

Somehow or other, It came just the same.

And the Grinch, with his Grinch feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling.

How could it be so it came without ribbons.

It came without tags.

It came without packages, boxes or bags.

And he puzzled three hours until his puzzler was sore.

Then the Grinch though of something he hadn't before.

‘Maybe Christmas, he thought, ‘doesn't come from a store.

Maybe Christmas perhaps, means a little bit more And what happened then?

Well, in Whoville, they say, that the Grinchs small heart, grew three sizes that day, and the minute his heart didn't feel quite so tight.

He whizzed with his load through the bright morning light, and he brought back the toys and the food for the feast.

In my view each of these books is special.

All were made into at least one movie, and I know they're treasured in many homes.

They certainly were in ours.

That's our show.

As we approach the end of 2025, all of us at Inside the Cover want to extend greetings and warm wishes for those celebrating the season.

Good night.

Happy holidays and we look forward to more great book conversations in 2026.

Good night.