“How the Candy Cane Got Its Stripes” by Scott Casperson

How the Candy Cane Got Its Stripes
Scott Casperson
Mixed Messages (2016)
ISBN 9780997836202
Reviewed by Lydia Dehning (age 6) for Reader View Kids (10/19)

“How the Candy Cane Got Its Stripes” by Scott Casperson is the story of how the candy cane started out differently than it is now, and the path it took to get to how it is seen now.

The story starts out with the candy cane, named Cane, being just white with no red stripes on it. Cane is at the North Pole and is sad because he doesn’t think that he fits in with Christmas. Cane’s friend, Snoey the snowman, tries to help him think of why he is special. Snoey is a nice friend and always finds something good about the ideas from Cane about what he can do to make Christmas special. Cane can’t think of anything, so Snoey gives him his red scarf to wear. The red scarf made Cane happy, so his red stripes are supposed to make us remember to be nice to others, especially at Christmastime.

I really liked this book because I like reading Christmas books. I had not heard this story before, but I like it, and I like to eat candy canes. It made me sad when Cane was so sad throughout the story, but I liked seeing how he had a good friend to help him get happy again.

A Note from Mom: Like Lydia, I had not heard this story before either. I think it’s a cute Christmas story with a good piece for thought at the end about remembering the stripes that represent kindness towards others. I would recommend “How the Candy Cane Got Its Stripes” by Scott Casperson to kids of any age since at young ages they already know (if they’re going to know) about Santa and will be able to follow along just fine with the text and storyline.