• Age: 0 to 6
• Grade: p to 1

A gentle poem describing the journey of a mailsleigh through rural Nova Scotia at Christmas time, delivering packages and parcels to children, Christmas with the Rural Mail is a holiday classic. The poem is carefully crafted to fit Maud Lewis's colourful paintings, and the mailsleigh passes children skiing and tobogganing, oxen and Clydesdale horses pulling heavy loads, and the train station, among other classic rural winter scenes.

Lewis's artwork is ideal for babies and toddlers, with its bright colours and simple forms, and the paintings and poem together perfectly evoke Christmases gone by. This is a sturdy board book edition great for young readers.

Maud Lewis (1903-1970) is one of Canada's most celebrated folk artists. Though she lived in conditions of abject poverty and was crippled by severe arthritis, her creative imagination soared above these difficult circumstances. Sitting by the window of her tiny house near Digby, Nova Scotia, Lewis painted sunny scenes of idyllic rural life, filled with brilliant colours, gentle animals, and cheerful domesticity.

Maud Lewis' profile page

Lance Woolaver is an author, playwright, and director who has published several works about Maud Lewis, including The Christmas with Maud Lewis and The Illuminated Life of Maud Lewis, as well as the play World Without Shadows.

Lance Woolave's profile page