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Table of Contents
Activity Booklet
About The Book
Christmas is Carla’s favorite holiday of the year. She goes to her grandparents’ house and eats grandma’s special recipe—a perfectly delicious cornbread. She listens to her grandpa Doc’s marvelous stories about traveling the world. And, best of all, she spends lots of time with her family.
But when Carla accidentally takes a bite out of Santa’s sugar cookie, she thinks she’s ruined Christmas. How will Santa know to stop at their house if they don’t leave him a midnight snack? With her grandmother’s help, Carla comes up with a plan, but will it be enough to save Christmas?
About The Illustrator
Cherise Harris is an illustrator from Barbados. Her work centers around an interest in fairy tale and its role in telling deep and meaningful stories. Cherise uses pencil, watercolor, and clay, exploring her ideas in both 2D and 3D form. She also uses Photoshop to create digital art and gifs. She received her associate degree in visual arts at the Barbados Community College, her BFA in illustration at the School of Visual Arts in New York City, and most recently completed her master’s in illustration at Falmouth University in the UK. Cherise currently lives back home in Barbados with her husband, Ryan, and her daughter.
Product Details
- Publisher: Denene Millner Books/Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers (November 2, 2021)
- Length: 40 pages
- ISBN13: 9781534494695
- Grades: P - 3
- Ages: 4 - 8
- Lexile ® AD570L The Lexile reading levels have been certified by the Lexile developer, MetaMetrics®
Browse Related Books
- Pre-Kindergarten
- Kindergarten
- 1st Grade
- 2nd Grade
- 3rd Grade
- Age 4 - 8
- Lexile ® 491 - 590
- Children's Fiction > Holidays & Festivals > Christmas
- Children's Fiction > People & Places > United States > General
- Children's Fiction > People & Places > United States > Other
- Children's Fiction > Cooking & Food
Raves and Reviews
"A sweetly nostalgic tale... In warm, vintage-toned acrylic inks and digital art, Harris beautifully renders the nuances of Christmas in a close-knit Black family, from taking off shoes at the door to foam rollers adorning the girls’ hair as they lay down to sleep, in this gift of a book."
– Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW, September 13 2021
"An affectionate food-and-family story."
– Horn Book Magazine, November/December 2021
"The celebrity chef gives us a warm tale with a nostalgic tone... This book provides a positive and authentic representation of a family of color, including Black Santa, and is a sweet Christmas story."
– School Library Journal, November 1, 2021
"With expressive illustrations that set the story in the early 1970s and evoke the Christmas mood in the context of a loving Black family, this tale reminds readers that love and good intentions can almost always save the day. Readers will be eager to try out the cornbread recipe included in the endmatter...[h]eartwarming and cozy."
– Kirkus Reviews
Resources and Downloads
Activity Sheets
High Resolution Images
- Book Cover Image (jpg): Carla and the Christmas Cornbread Hardcover 9781534494695
- Author Photo (jpg): Carla Hall Photo courtesy of the author(0.1 MB)
Any use of an author photo must include its respective photo credit