The Twelve Days of Christmas by Jan Brett

The Twelve Days of Christmas Reviews

• 
  Dave Schaafsma

  This is the classic illustration by Jan Brett of the classic Christmas gifting poem, one of the first texts to associate Christmas with gifts. (Thanks, "The Twelve Days of Christmas"! Love, Capitalism). (Oh, there were those wise men bearing gifts to the Bethlehem manger, too, that's a precursor).
  
  So what are the twelve days of Christmas, really, you ask? The twelve days of Christmas is the period between December 25, Christmas, when Jesus Christ was (supposedly? Exact dates are fuzzy) born, and January 6, which is the coming of the Magi (the three wise men) to Bethlehem to honor the baby Jesus. It is sometimes also called Three Kings' Day, it is known to Shakespeare fans as Twelfth Night, it is sometimes celebrated as the Epiphany: The Day the Animals Talked, and in my house, as My Very Own Birthday, thanks in advance.
  
  Yes, in this house we sing and listen to the also classic song, an example of which is here:
  
  
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyEyM...
  
  But in my house we also sing this, one of many parody versions, which the kids sang in their recent holiday festival. This is not my kids, but a high school choir singing it:
  
  
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omi0u...
  
  Here are the lyrics of the parody version, if you want to stoop that low; we apparently do (who knew what depths parenting would lead me?!):
  
  The first day after Christmas my true love and I had a fight,
  And so I chopped the pear tree down and burned it just for spite.
  Then with a single cartridge, I shot that blasted partridge,
  My true love, my true love, my true love gave to me.
  The second day after Christmas, I pulled on the old rubber gloves,
  And very gently wrung the necks of both the turtle doves.
  My true love, my true love, my true love gave to me.
  The third day after Christmas, my mother caught the croup;
  I had to use the three French hens to make some chicken soup.
  The four calling birds were a big mistake,
  for their language was obscene.
  The five gold rings were completely fake
  and they turned my fingers green.
  The sixth day after Christmas, the six laying geese wouldn't lay,
  I gave the whole darn gaggle to the A.S.P.C.A.
  On the seventh day what a mess I found,
  All seven of the swimming swans had drowned.
  My true love, my true love, my true love gave to me.
  The eighth day after Christmas, before they could suspect,
  I bundled up the eight maids a milking, nine pipers piping,
  ten ladies dancing, 'leven lords a leaping, Twelve drummers drumming
  and sent them back collect.
  I wrote my true love, "We are through, love,"
  and I said in so many words,
  "Furthermore your Christmas gifts were for the birds!"
  
  Okay, sorry. It's kind of the same kind of corny anti-sentimental humor as "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer." Which probably divides the country as other issues do.
  
  Some background on this widespread legend/fable of how the animals talk on January 6, though some versions have it as Christmas Eve:
  
  
  https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/7...
• 
  Calista

  Here Jan is developing her style and she has all the side panel windows working for her. It really is a beautiful book. On each page we see Merry Christmas in a different language like cyrillic or Spanish or so on. There is a couple in the panels and eventually they grow up and have a family. It is a very sweet book.
  
  There is also a little historical note at the end about the tune and the fact this was one of the few Christmas songs speaking about giving gifts until recently. It was also pagan based. It is a very old poem. It was fascinating.
  
  I think my favorite picture was the 3 French Hens while the nephew enjoyed the 12 Lords a Leaping and my niece liked the 9 ladies dancing best. Of course, we sang through this story as is our want. It was fun and Nice to see Jan Brett’s work again. We gave it 4 stars all around.
  
• 
  Abigail

  In this beautiful presentation of the beloved Christmas carol, Jan Brett - a prolific picture-book author and artist who has produced many holiday titles, from
  The Night Before Christmas, to this year's
  Home for Christmas - delivers a visually striking interpretation of the lyrics, complete with all the lovely little details her fans have come to expect. Decorative borders (as is often the case, with Brett) abound, framing each two-page spread, and following the story of the two true lovers referenced in the song. The main panel, in each painting, is devoted to the gift being given in that verse, while Christmas greetings in multiple languages are presented at the bottom of each side-panel.
  
  Although not the equal of the recent Laural Long
  The Twelve Days of Christmas, in my estimation - and really, what could be, given how phenomenally beautiful Long's book was? - I found this illustrated version of the carol to be very appealing. The artwork was lovely, and although I did feel, as I often do, that Brett's animal figures were stronger than her human ones, the overall effect was delightful! I appreciated the greetings in various languages, each accompanied by a pair of animals - I particularly loved the hedgehogs ("Joyeux Noël") and the kittens ("Fröhliche Weihnachten")! - and enjoyed following the "story" of the two lovers. I was also interested (and pleased) to see that Brett used an alternative form of the carol, in which the last four verses were in a different order from the way I learned them (this is not, as another reviewer claims, an error - just an indication that there are many variants of this beloved song).
  
  All in all, a wonderful book, one I would recommend to any reader who was looking for beautifully illustrated presentations of this carol. Of course, I'd also recommend taking a look at the new Laurel Long version...
• 
  Stephanie Anze

  Another christmas classic narrative that is a perfect read for this time of year. The Twelve Days of Christmas is a fun and whimsical book for people of all ages. Gorgeously illustrated, this book has classic and folk imagery. The colors perfectly match the images and its hard not to read this book in song. The prose is the lyrics to the song that is quite well known but Jan Brett delivers it in a memorable and original way. Certainly, this is a good book to put one in a holiday mood.
  
  The Twelve Days of Christmas is actually an English Christmas carol, originally published in 1780. It first appereared in Mirth without Mischief, a children's book. Though its not confirmed, the song is thought to have a french origin and to have started out as a memorization game where participants had to remember verses or else suffer a penalty. This cumulative song, as its well known, is about the extravagant gifts the singer gets from their true love over twelve days (the amount of time the christmas season lasts). In total, the singer receives 364 gifts by the twelth day. An estimate done in 2018 suggested that the price for these pesents was $38,993.59. That is a lot of gold rings and pear trees, among other things.
• 
  Laura

  This would get 5 stars, except the sequence of the days is wrong at the end: it's 9 drummers drumming, 10 pipers piping, 11 ladies dancing, and 12 lords a leaping (I learned 9 ladies dancing, 10 lords a leaping, 11 pipers piping, 12 drummers drumming).
• 
  Lisa Vegan

  I loved this book. Of course, I found it impossible to read; I had to sing it, and because of the singing, it was hard to look at the story unfolding via the illustrations, so I had to reread/re-sing it a few times.
  
  At the beginning of the book, there is the actual music with lyrics included, but the lyrics were hard to decipher and figure out; I assume that the music will play the song though and the book’s text is the lyrics. It reminds me of a game I have that’s a guess the next lyrics in songs, and I’m usually pretty good at that game (at least compared to most of my friends) but it’s also amazing how many times I have gotten the lyrics incorrect in songs I supposedly know well.
  
  So, this is one of my favorite Christmas songs but I’ve had it wrong all along, it seems. I didn’t know it was four colly birds but thought it was four calling birds.
  
  The illustrations fit the song/story so well, and there is a story here, not just the song’s lyrics, but a whole family preparing for Christmas and New Years. The illustrations include holiday greetings in various languages too, which is a nice touch.
  
  There is a fascinating editor’s note at the back of the book that explains the origin of the twelve days of Christmas and of the song.
  
  This is a book I can see families pulling out every Christmas.
• 
  Dolly

  Gorgeous illustrations highlight this rendition of the classic Christmas song, "The Twelve Days of Christmas". Our oldest had so much fun singing this one with me as we looked through the pages.
  
  With the tongue twister of a song, I recommend a second, silent read through just to look at the intricate detail in the illustrations.
  Jan Brett includes her classic borders, with lots of design and action going on, and I love the touch of adding Merry Christmas and Happy New Year in several different languages.
  
  Finally, while her friend the hedgehog is noticeably absent from the pages, he is included on the back cover of the book. Overall, we really enjoyed reading/singing this book aloud.
• 
  Kieran

  The book The Twelve Days of Christmas by Jan Brett provides vivid images to accompany the classic Christmas carol. Brett is known for her intricate illustrations. On each page, one verse of the song is written out, with a picture to match. The book includes sheet music at the beginning, and it has an explanation of the origin of the song in the back.
  Jan Brett is notorious for including margin photos in her book. In the margins of this book, a family prepares for the holidays. The illustrations also include several of her trademark woodland creatures. The main image on each page was the gift from the suitor to his lady. Her skills really bring the song/story to life.
  For classroom teachers, parents, etc, this would be a great story to share with children around the holidays. This book is a great example of illustrations, and could be used to inspire children to add their own illustrations to other songs, as Brett did. I love the detail Jan Brett uses when she illustrates.
  
• 
  Jiffy

  I look forward to this one every year. The illustrations are incredible.
• 
  Sharon Honeycutt

  As always, amazing illustrations! My favorite book version of this song.
• 
  Elizabeth

  Great illustrations of a Christmas song and even information to it's origin.
• 
  Libby

  Christmas isn’t Christmas without this! As a child, I would sing it with my siblings and my mum, and as an adult, I sing it with my boys. It’s one of those warm and fuzzy family traditions that gets passed from generation to generation. Beautiful illustrations are part of the whole experience, leaving us feeling festive and full of the spirit of Christmas.
• 
  Marcia Van Camp

  I never knew it was "colly" instead of "calling" birds!
  
  
  http://www.birdwatchersgeneralstore.c...
• 
  Kaylynn Hennenfent

  Wow this book is just like the rest. FABALOUS!!!!!!!!! I recommend it!!!!!!!!
• 
  Margaret Chind

  We have an older board book edition (
  The Twelve Days of Christmas) and I'm glad that they are reprinting this one again. It is one of our book choices for school, which year I would have to go check my shelf because we pretty much read it every year when we pull out the Christmas themed books. It is from the Preschool-2nd Grade era, but even my 5th Grade daughter still enjoys pouring over these illustrated pages as she reads to her siblings. The illustrations bring back Christmas memories of years past and are lovely to look at it.
  
  I read this via a temporary eBook galley via Edelweiss.
• 
  spookybelle

  Really wanted to love this. As per usual, Jan Brett's illustrations are beautiful. But she changes around the order of the last few gifts. The Wikipedia article for The Twelve Days of Christmas has a whole list of variations of the lyrics, but NONE of them match Jan Brett's version in this book. I can't figure out why she would do it this way except that maybe she was doing it from memory and didn't research it?
  
  Was hoping this might turn out to be our favoured version for singing the song with the kiddo, but unfortunately it would just be too confusing. We may decide to revisit at some point because of the illustrations.
• 
  Trent Clegg

  Great illustrations! The "true love" guy is hunky! And the information at the end about Christmastide is a good summary of what the twelve days of Christmas really mean and how they were celebrated. Merry Christmas and Happy Epiphany!
• 
  Laurene

  An exceptional illustrated version of The Twelve Days of Christmas by Jan Brett. Her books are enchanting -- including this one. Wish I had the experience of turning these pages as a child!
• 
  ♥♣Mary♦♠ If She So Pleases

  Jan Brett did a fantastic job in illustrating this gorgeous book.
  
  The Christmas carol "The Twelves Days of Christmas" was written for the early Roman Catholics of England at a time when they were forbidden from openly practicing their religion. The carol was created so children could secretly learn about the Christian faith while just seeming to be taught a song. The words in the carol are like a secret code, with each object in the song referring to a tenet of the Christian faith. The line, "My true love gave to me" refers to the gifts given by God to Christians.
  
  A partridge in a pear tree refers to Jesus. The two turtle-doves refer to The Old and New Testaments. The three French hens refer to faith, hope, and charity. The four calling birds refer to the four Gospels. The five gold rings refer to the first five books of The Bible. The six geese a-laying refer to the six days of creation. The seven swans a-swimming refer to the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. The eight maids a-milking refer to The Beatitudes. The nine ladies dancing refer to the nice fruits of the Holy Spirit, the ten lords-a-leaping refer to the Ten Commandments, the eleven pipers piping refer to the eleven faithful Apostles. The twelve drummers drumming refer to the twelve points of the Apostle Creed.
• 
  Lisa Rathbun

  I liked a lot about this book: Jan Brett's details gave lots of fun things to look at on each page. But that was part of my problem too: I expected more attention to detail. As each day is described, across the top of the page is a branch from a Christmas tree showing that day's gift as a Christmas ornament. On the final page, a huge Christmas tree is shown covered with all the ornaments so I looked for ones from each day with my child. However, I could NOT find the pipe OR the partridge. Maybe they're there, but I couldn't find them. Also there seemed to be at least three turtle doves when there should have been just two. I expected more attention to detail from Brett. I also was disappointed that she chose to use alternate lyrics instead of the most well-known. It's confusing to my child to have 9 pipers, 10 drummers, 11 ladies, and 12 lords since that is not how we sing it. (I don't mind the "colly birds" because that can easily be explained.)
  
  So all in all, I ended up being disappointed with this book.
• 
  Megababy

  Mom review: Baby loved it as we sang along to this book. Lots of giggles. Beautiful illustrations! I especially love the critters in the bottom corners with Christmas greetings in a different language on every page. Interestingly, this book had me googling when I was done with it, due to its mention of four colly birds, where I'd always heard "calling". Apparently this is a real thing, and means 'black' in some dialect of English. Also my husband and I were both pretty sure that they put the things from 9-12 in a different order than we remembered, and seems we were right. But the
  Wikipedia article explains all this. I'm glad I didn't see this as a kid, because I would have INSISTED that the book was wrong. I wonder how my son will deal with it when he is old enough to notice.
• 
  Stacy

  This Jan Brett illustrated work has her signature side column illustrations depicting another story taking place while the song is going on. The main illustrations are that of the song lines, and are two-page illustrations, each having "Merry Christmas" in a different language, the last one saying, "Happy New Year". The clothing looks as though the story is set in the 1700s. The side story is of a family and their preparations for the Christmas holiday. At the beginning of the book there is a music sheet illustration of the first four verses of the song, and at the end of the book there is an editor's note which explains the history of the song.
• 
  Christine Kallner

  Not my favorite rendition of this classic Christmas Carol as a picture book, but lovely nonetheless. As another reviewer pointed out, the gifts toward the end of the song are in a different order than I am used to, though I will admit I didn't even notice at first! Wondering now what the official/original order is. I loved the Merry Christmas messages in various languages in the border artwork -- there always seems to be something special on these borders that Brett includes in her illustrations which are really fun to explore more closely.
• 
  Ruth

  You always know what you're going to get with Jan Brett. Breathtaking illustrations and at least one hedgehog. This is a gorgeous rendition of the familiar carol. Brett whimsically has the French hens dressed up like Marie Antoinette and the geese have long blonde braids and head scarves like they are the goose girl and not the goose. The border illustrations are of a couple celebrating a wintery Christmas, and tucked in the bottom corners are animals wishing the reader Merry Christmas in a variety of languages.
• 
  Beverly

  Brett uses the traditional words for her illustrated version of this old song. I am not sure which era the illustrations are depicting; the family looks like they are in Victorian clothing, but there are powdered wigs on the 3 French hens and the lords a leaping. There are also Spanish ladies dancing and kilted Scottish pipers piping. Various animals unrelated to the song show up in the borders and sidebars.
• 
  Jo Oehrlein

  Done in normal Jan Brett style with a central picture and pictures in the frames all around.
  
  I love the touch of the holiday greetings in different languages on the different pages.
  
  The French Hens all dressed up in fancy gowns are the silliest things!
  
  The top of the page shows each day's gift as ornaments. Look for those ornaments on the tree at the end.
  
  Could be used as a counting book, but you only have the numbers in words.
• 
  Sarah

  If you like Jan Karon's artwork you will like this book. I find no fault with the illustrations, it is the song lyric that drive me nuts. The song never ends and is soooooo repetitious. Ugh! I prefer the Sesame Street version (...five argyle socks...)