In The Sound of Music,
Maria lists schnitzel as one of her favorite things. The song
containing that sentiment has become a Christmas standard, so even
though she was referring to a popular Austrian dish, it seems fitting
for a character named Schnitzel to inhabit a Christmas book. In Hans
Wilhelm’s Schnitzel’s First Christmas, the titular character is a
puppy, and like everyone else in the story, he is thinking about his
favorite things. That’s because according to Gruff, the grumpy gray cat,
everyone who wishes for a particular present before Christmas Eve will
have that wish granted by Santa. But Schnitzel has so much already; what
could he possibly wish for?
This is a cute story for the early
elementary school set. The writing is not very complicated, and most
pages have a few short paragraphs of text. Schnitzel interacts with five
different characters in the book; we never actually see the people who
live in his house, though indications of their presence are prevalent.
When Schnitzel complains that no one has any time for him, it would seem
that he means the humans; the animals living in and around the home
seem more than willing to take the time to talk to him. The cat, the
fish and the birds all have specific requests in mind, ones that could
easily apply to a puppy with a bit of tweaking. Toys, shelter and food
all come up as basic desires.
Schnitzel is a lovable pup, and
there’s something sweet about the fact that he is so happy with what he
has that he can’t think of anything to ask for. On the other hand, his
inability to come up with something makes him miserable. So he does
really want something; he just can’t for the life of him figure
out what. Mostly, he doesn’t want to feel left out, which is a feeling
many children can relate to. The Christmas picture book market is
flooded with “first Christmas” stories, usually involving animals
because in most cases, the first Christmas of a human child would be
when he or she is a baby too young to really appreciate what is going
on. Books of this type involving dogs seem to be especially popular, and
this one fits in well with the rest.
The story is sweet, but
the real charm of the book lies in the illustrations. Schnitzel is a
cute beige puppy with a little mop of fur atop his head and slightly
darker brown ears. The book doesn’t indicate the medium for the
illustrations; my guess would be watercolors, perhaps with some colored
pencil mixed in for the detail work, particularly on Schnitzel’s
scraggly fur. The pictures have a very soft tone to them, both in terms
of muted colors and a lack of sharp edges. They have a comforting feel
to them that matches the overall theme of the story, which has to do
with the value of companionship.
While I do think that
Schnitzel, so content in other areas of his life, could be a little more
grateful for the presence of other animals with whom he can converse,
in general he is very lovable. In looking over a list of Wilhelm’s
published works, I see he has a series starring another puppy named
Noodles. Considering how well the exuberant young Maria thinks those two
go together, that looks to me like a crossover just waiting to happen,
especially since Wilhelm, having written a book about the real Von Trapp
family, is so obviously aware of The Sound of Music. I wouldn’t
go so far as to say that this Schnitzel is one of my favorite things,
but he’s certainly a pleasant puppy to spend a few minutes with.
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