A Defective Santa Claus and Riley Songs of Home

1. A Defective Santa Claus, describes one of the most beloved traditions of the modern Christmas celebration. The book reminds us of the joy children take in the holiday and the sometimes loving extremes to which parents go to fulfil that anticipation and wonder of Christmas in their children's lives. 2. Riley Songs of Home by James Whitcomb Riley is a collection of poems about the midwestern United States. Excerpt: "We must get home! How could we stray like this? - So far from home, we know not where it is, - Only in some fair, apple-blossomy place Of children's faces -and the mother's face - We dimly dream it, till the vision clears Even in the eyes of fancy, glad with tears. We must get home -for we have been away So long, it seems forever and a day! And O so very homesick we have grown, The laughter of the world is like a moan In our tired hearing, and its song as vain, - We must get home -we must get home again!" James Whitcomb Riley (October 7, 1849 - July 22, 1916) was an American writer, poet, and best-selling author. During his lifetime he was known as the "Hoosier Poet" and "Children's Poet" for his dialect works and his children's poetry respectively. His poems tended to be humorous or sentimental, and of the approximately one thousand poems that Riley authored, the majority are in dialect.