This volume of winter wonderland of color and
light offers a festive tour of downtown Chicago and the surrounding
counties. Author Edsey, a Chicago native who has for 10 years
hosted holiday bus tours around that city, puts her hometown savvy
to excellent use: photos of displays are accompanied by stories
about the people who create them, viewing hours, directions and
maps. Edsey also provides a history of outdoor holiday decorations,
noting that Americans'' endeavors echo those of the ancient Romans,
who festooned their homes to celebrate the new year. Edsey''s
visual tour of holiday-themed Chicagoland visits well-known
landmarks like Navy Pier and the Art Institute of Chicago, plus
neighborhoods like the one that''s home to Candy Cane Lane, where,
from the mid-1950s to the early 1970s, a parade of 10-foot candy
canes stood in residents'' front lawns. Readers inspired to create
or augment their own display will appreciate the book''s many
tips-for example, how to disguise floodlights as giant presents-and
its appendix of suppliers. Publisher's Weekly, November 3,
2008
"This is
the second edition of a guide to the most fabulous Christmas
decorations in the Chicago area, including Cook and its adjacent
counties. The downtown area includes many sites familiar to Chicago
natives and visitors alike, but the neighborhoods really shine with
private homes that are decorated in ways that defy belief, like the
house in Lincolnwood with a tree that not only fills the house, but
pokes out through the roof. A must for every library in Northern
Illinois and southern Wisconsin." --
Libraryjournal.com, December 2,
2008