Christmas Eve Blizzard is the tender story of a beautiful cardinal who is trapped in the snow until a young boy rescues him. Nicholas places more importance on caring for the injured bird than in decorating the Christmas tree or opening his gifts on Christmas morning. Christmas Eve Blizzard will truly touch your heart. The “Creative Minds" section contains information on how to make your backyard into a bird-happy habitat, several simple bird-feeder crafts, “cardinal numbers,” math games, and information on what to do if you find an injured bird.

Written by: Andrea Vlahakis Illustrated by: Emanuel Schongut	32 pg, 8.5" x 10", Ages 6 to 10, Lexile: 610 Hardcover ISBN: 978-0-9764943-3-1, $15.95 Paperback ISBN: 978-1-6071811-5-6, $8.95
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“When I happened to stumble upon Christmas Eve Blizzard, by Andrea Vlahakis, I felt a surge of nostalgia, for my own childhood, my own discoveries, and my own relationships with nature and with my grandparents. It makes a heartwarming addition to any library collection and is a perfect read-aloud book during the holidays or any time of year.” – Families.com

“With its timely and timeless Christmas message of caring for animals and other people, and a young boy's relationship with his grandfather, Christmas Eve Blizzard is a very special and highly recommended addition to a child's Christmas reading list and for inclusion into both school and community library picture book collections.” –Midwest Book Review

“This picture book uses a bilingual (Spanish) story and excellent illustrations to teach about how to help birds survive the winter. This was a particularly well done book, and we rated it five hearts.” - Heartland Reviews

Andrea Vlahakis (author) is a busy children’s author, having been published in Highlights for Children, Turtle, Ladybug and Appleseeds. In addition to her own writing, Andrea is an instructor at the Institute of Children's Literature. A large portion of Andrea’s work revolves around nature and birds.

The inspiration for this book comes from her childhood home—when she was eight, her father hung a cardinal-red birdfeeder from their old apple tree and her love of bird watching was born. It also comes from her own rescue of a bird during a blizzard a few years ago, with the help of an equally snowbound wildlife rescue person on the other end of the phone. Andrea lives in Connecticut surrounded by woods, streams, and lots of birds to watch. For more information, visit her website at www.AndreaVlahakis.com. (Photo credit: Melissa Winslow, Litchfield County Times.)

Emanuel "Manny" Schongut (artist) is a prolific, multi-faceted freelance illustrator who works in children's books, book covers, textbook illustration, editorial art, posters, and advertising art – essentially he does it all!. Some of his numerous clients include Masterpiece and Mystery Theater, Public Television, New York Magazine, and New York Times Sunday Magazine. His cover art and/or illustrations grace books from a wide variety of book publishers including Harper & Row, MacMillan, Doubleday, Morrow, Green Willow Books, and now Sylvan Dell. Manny also illustrated Turtles in my Sandbox for Sylvan Dell.

In addition to his own artwork, Manny taught reportorial art and figure drawing at Pratt Institute in New York for several years. He now illustrates and teaches in the San Francisco Bay area. Visit Manny's website.