Cozy Holiday Reads

“There is nothing in England that exercises a more delightful spell over my imagination than the lingerings of the holiday customs and rural games of former times.”

Originally part of The Sketch Books of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., which also included the famous stories, Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Old Christmas is a tale from iconic early American author Washington Irving. The narrative depicts Irving’s Christmas Eve trip by stagecoach to Yorkshire in England, and the delightful holiday games and rituals he shared with his hosts at their home, Bracebridge Hall. Illustrated by famed artist Randolph Caldecott, this edition will be sure to inspire holiday cheer in anyone. 

With historical photos and impeccable storytelling, this extraordinary book chronicles an astonishing moment in American history.

Starting Christmas Day, 1941, when transport trains on the Union Pacific Railroad stopped in North Platte to refill their water tanks, the local families of North Platte, Nebraska, came together to provide love, support, food, and morale to young soldiers involved in World War II—black and white—who briefly passed through their town. Troops poured into the North Platte Depot, The Canteen, to find homecooked meals, birthday cakes, hot coffee, cold milk, magazines, postcards, and the warmth of a grateful and loving community. The stops lasted only ten minutes, but the people of North Platte made sure that everyone in their midst was taken care of. This remarkable story will inspire readers of all ages, as The Canteen nourishes all who have the privilege to visit.

Trailblazing ornithologist Florence A. Merriam’s classic firsthand account of her adventurous and influential field work through Southern California on horseback, first published in 1896. 

A-Birding on a Bronco is Florence A. Merriam’s enduring personal narrative of the natural wonders and new bird species she encountered while surveying the southern California wilderness atop Canello, her trusty white bronco. 

As the first female member of the American Ornithologists’ Union, Merriam was a trailblazer in the emerging field of birding in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Merriam’s pioneering field work took her across the United States. Perhaps her greatest journey of all is recounted is A-Birding on a Bronco, a classic of American nature writing first published in 1896. Merriam’s lively prose is presented alongside original illustrations by famed artist and ornithologist Louis Agassiz Fuertes, his first-ever published work in what became a storied career. It’s all presented in fine detail in this facsimile printing of the original edition. 

In 1889 and 1894, respectively, Merriam journeyed West to document birds far from her native Northeast. A-Birding on a Bronco recounts these exciting horseback expeditions, vividly describing more than seventy bird species she found in the southern California backcountry, as well as introducing the colorful personalities she met along the way.  

Merriam today is regarded as an essential early voice for conservation, and A-Birding on a Bronco shows her important principles put into practice. In an era when capturing and killing birds for research was commonplace, she was among the first to advocate studying birds in their natural habitats to preserve species. It is a fundamental practice that endures today. Merriam also penned the highly influential book Birds Through Opera-Glass (1890), considered by many to be the first birding field guide ever published. 

Whether you’re a fan nature writing, or of first-person adventure narratives, A-birding on a Bronco stands out as a classic across genres. It’s why, more than a century later, A-birding on a Bronco still resonates with readers today.