Shauna January 11, 2015


The Legend of the Candy Cane, written by Lori Walburg,
and illustrated by Richard Cowdrey, is a book that will quickly become a family
favorite with its inspirational story and its beautifully illustrated pictures. 

I was so excited when The Legend of the Candy Cane
arrived in the mail. I couldn’t wait to open the package and read the book
with my daughters. Before I even opened the book,  I knew that we were going to love it.
How you ask? Simply because we love inspirational
stories and we absolutely adore beautiful artwork that instantly draws you into a book. 
The Legend of the Candy Cane was as wonderful as I thought it was going to be and it even exceeded my expectations as well. Don’t let
this book fool you that it is only appropriate to read during the Christmas
season, this should be a book that you read all year round with your children.
The message that the candy can symbolizes the miracle of Christ’s birth, is a
message that we should hold near and dear to our hearts always.
The story begins with a man riding up to a dilapidated building that is for lease. The man turns to his furry animals that are traveling with him and says, “This will do just fine”. The people in town do not know
who the man is or what his purpose is for coming to their town.

One day a brave
little girl, Lucy, knocks on the door of the mysterious store and asks if the
man needs any help. The man agrees to let Lucy help unpack some of his boxes. 

To Lucy’s delight, she realizes that the kind man, John Sonneman,
is opening up a candy store. after seeing some of her favorite treats begin to fill
the different shaped glass jars, she comes across a candy that she had never
seen before.   

When Lucy asks Mr. Sonneman
what the red and white striped candy is, he explains to her that it is a very
special Christmas candy.  He then teaches
her the different ways in which the candy cane symbolizes Christ’s birth: from
the Shepherds staff, to “J” for Jesus, the blood that our Savior shed
for each of us, and his resurrection. 

Lucy and Mr. Sonneman then decide to go and do something
wonderful for the town right before Christmas Eve. What you ask? I am going to have
you read the story yourself to find out. It is however, something that changes
the town and helps everyone remember the miracle that happened when our Savior,
Jesus Christ, was born. 
Needless to say, my family all loved this book. It is well
written, it kept my 8 and 10 yr. olds attention, the story is inspirational,
and the artwork is absolutely adorable. Young children would enjoy the story as well. The artist in me personally feels like
artwork can make or break a story, and I felt Richard Cowdrey’s illustrations
beautifully enhanced Lori Walburg wonderful writing style. 
I decided I wanted to make a coloring page for my daughter’s
to go along with The Legend of the Candy Cane.  The purpose of the printable was to help them
remember what the Candy Cane represented, and to also think of a gift that they
could give the Savior this year.

Now, for you my readers, I wanted to share this printable
with you for free. You could have your children color and fill out the paper all
by themselves, or you could write their answer down for them. 

CLICK HERE and enjoy your free copy of my Candy
Cane Symbolism paper to go with The Legend of the Candy Cane book. 
You can also CLICK HERE to purchase your own copy of The
Legend of the Candy Cane Board Book from Amazon, or CLICK HERE to purchase the Board Book from Barnes
and Noble. 
Disclosure of Material Connection: I
received this book free from the publisher through the BookLook Bloggers book
review bloggers program (http://booklookbloggers.com). I was not required to
write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am
disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part
255.
This “The
Legend of the Candy Cane Book Review and free Coloring page” first
appeared on my blog, Learn and Grow Designs, on Jan. 10, 2015.