• Age: 6 to 8
• Grade: 1 to 3
• Reading age: 6 to 8

Twins Toby and Ella are sick of Christmas: their Mom is so busy baking, decorating and shopping that there's no time for fun! What about building a snowman? What about reading Christmas stories around the fire? But when Mom's careful holiday plans start to unravel, the twins see a wonderful new side to Mom...and to Christmas!

Nancy Hundal has previously published ten picture books with HarperCollins, Fitzhenry & Whiteside, and Midtown Press. Oolichan Press published her middle-grade novel Kaleidoscopes and Butterfly Dreams , in 2009, and she self-published a YA novel, Song Angel, in 2018. Many of her books have been nominated for the BC Chocolate Lily Award, and the Canadian Library Association Book of the Year. Her first picture book, I Heard My Mother Call My Name, won the BC Book Prize in 1991.

Hundal has recently retired from a thirty-seven year career as a teacher-librarian in Vancouver, BC. This manuscript, which is about diversity, is the result of watching many students try to be the best friend they could be, even in challenging situations.

Hundal identifies as disabled, as she is deaf but able to hear almost normally with the help of a cochlear implant. See her website: nancyhundal.com

Nancy Hundal's profile page

This is the first book for illustrator Bibiana Vidal Curell. She is an accomplished artist and painter with many shows and galleries carrying her work. She lives in Manitoba.

Bibiana Vidal Curell's profile page