My holiday gift to all, two special books, quickly read but words and images that will stay with you and rekindle hope and gratitude.

This year we lost Gary Paulsen, creator of wonderful books, but we have not lost his words. Take twenty minutes on a quiet winter afternoon or evening and read Gary Paulsen’s A Christmas Sonata. Every Christmas season as I re-read Paulsen’s words, they transport me to a time of my grandparent’s generation and the celebration of life, the acceptance of loss, and the magic of Christmas.

Unbound: the Life and Art of Judith Scott, a recent picture book written by Judith’s sister, Joyce Scott: twin sisters, best friends, who play together, sleep together, until one morning, one sister wakes up and her twin sister is gone. Gone. A beautiful story of love and rescue.