NetGalley thank you for this wonderful book. I’ve always wondered about the history of some of our Christmas songs. This book does a beautiful setup in an advent style to learn about some of our most beloved Christmas songs as well as some I haven’t heard. It even has links so you can hear them sung. It’s a perfect way to countdown to Christmas.

This was lovely to read. I enjoyed the links to the music especially since I didn’t recognize a few of them.
I’m not sure how the physical book is set up, but the digital version was very easy to just click and hear the songs.
I loved the stories about each song and I especially enjoyed that most of the stories were brief so it wasn’t overwhelming to read in a short amount of time.
It would be fun to share with my children and help them appreciate the classic Christmas songs.
This would be a great Christmas gift for anyone who loves music.

I love advent countdowns, carols and Christmas so I was super excited to read this book! There were many songs I knew and aalso quite a few I have never heard of! In the digital copy there is a link to YouTube videos but tat always worries me because links can expire or go away when site change. It also takes you out of the book. I would have enjoyed more illusyrations. The stories were very factual so they are more for those enjoy learning trivia then a fun story to read. Overall, a nice boom about Christmas carols - nothing you can't find on the internet these days but having them all together in a book is a nice touch.

This book combined three of my favorite things - advent countdowns, music, and history. I appreciated the combination of lyrics (I find it helpful to read them without the music to understand their meaning), a link to listen (with beautifully selected recordings on YouTube), and information about the origins of the song's music and lyrics. Organized with one per day for the month of December leading up to Christmas, this book will add to your holiday celebration this year!

I received a complimentary copy of this book. All opinions expressed are completely my own.

This one will have you dancing beneath the Christmas tree and under the mistletoe, with friends, family, and everyone in between. This lovely Christmas gem celebrates the most beloved and iconic Christmas carol, and features one carol for each day from December first to Christmas Eve, including not only the lyrics and beautiful illustrations, but also the fascinating stories and interesting facts behind each song. This one is not only exceedingly entertaining (mostly because I love all of the back stories of the songs and now have realized that I have had a large majority of lyrics wrong for the majority of my life), but is a great thing to look forward to every day with the little ones. This adds a whole new level of fun and anticipation to the always joyful Christmas Countdown and Advent Season. My personal favorite: Hark the Heralds Angels Sing (cue the tears at the end of It’s a Wonderful Life).

One of my favorite things about Christmas is the music. I loved the idea of a Christmas carol for each day leading up to Christmas. This would be such a fun thing to do as a family with young children. There were many songs in this book that I knew such as Joy to the World, O Come, All Ye Faithful, and Hark! The Herald Angels Sing but also many that I'd never heard before like My Heart Always Wanders, Masters in This Hall, and In the Bleak Midwinter to name a few.

I love the cover as it reminds me of Victorian carolers. I liked that it was interactive and you could click (on my ebook copy) or scan a code to listen to the song. I really liked learning the history of each carol and the composer--it's very interesting reading. This would make a wonderful gift before the holidays and help make the days leading up to Christmas more meaningful .

I received a complimentary ebook copy from the publisher Shadow Mountain via NetGalley. All thoughts expressed in this review are my own.

A musical countdown to Christmas. This will be a fun new Christmas tradition. Each day of December until Christmas, read a short chapter about a different carol. Then use the included QR code to listen to an audio recording or watch a video of the Tabernacle Choir singing that song. The chapters start with the lyrics, then tell background info and stories for each song. I thought it was interesting the author has a degree in music and is also a member of The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square.

All my favorite Christmas songs were included along with a few others from around the world. I was surprised to learn some of the poems have verses not included in the song. This is one book that might be even better in a digital format because there is no need to scan the QR code. You could just tap the link to play the music. Thanks to Shadow Mountain Publishing and NetGalley for an ARC to use for my review.

Music is one of my favorite things about Christmas. I love the spirit songs bring, whether it's holy or fun. This book is full of wonderful carols to help lead up to Christmas day and bring the spirit of Christmas into your home. Many of the carols are popular and familiar, but there were some new ones to me as well. I loved reading the lyrics and listening to the performances. An added treat is then learning about the history behind the carol. I really enjoyed reading this and learning more about some of my favorite carols. I can't wait to use this book in December to count down to Christmas with my family.

I received a complimentary copy from the publisher through Netgalley and this is my honest review.

First, there is a carol for each day in December leading up to Christmas. Most are well known and loved (O Little Town of Bethlehem, Angels We Have Heard on High, O Holy Night, Joy to the World). There are also many carols that I was less familiar with (The Holly and the Ivy, Masters in the Hall, Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming). Each section contains the lyrics to the carol, and then a short description of its history. On the eBook version there was even a link, often to YouTube of the carol being performed. For those new to me songs, that was priceless.

I loved learning how these beloved carols came to be. I can picture sharing these songs with my family and hopefully learning a new carol or two.

Learning about the origins of we'll loved Christmas carols and little known carols was a joy. They will mean so much more to me when I sing them, now that I know where they come from and the heart and soul that went into them.

I love Christmas carols, so I was excited to give this book a read. There were some carols that were unfamiliar to me--some of which I fell in love with after reading the lyrics and watching the videos linked to in the book, and others of which I might not ever listen to again--as well as more familiar ones. While I love secular Christmas songs as well, I really appreciated this collection's focus on religious songs; I think that makes it really wonderful way to focus on Christ as Christmas approaches. The musical performances the book links to (all but one performed by the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square) were beautiful, although I wouldn't have minded if other groups or singers had been included as well, for variety's sake.
3.5 stars.
I read an ARC provided by the publisher. All opinions are my own.

This book would be great for Christmas hymn lovers everywhere. One song for each day of advent, the authors shares a brief history of the hymn's music and lyrics. Almost all of the carols in the book were familiar to me though there were a couple that I didn't recognize by name. I think there was only one of those that I didn't know even when I listened to it. Some carols might be considered more obscure compared to something like Silent Night but if you listen to a lot of sacred Christmas music, most of it will be commonly known I think.
Because each history is brief one can sit down and read through the entire book in a short period but it is designed to focus on one carol a day. Either way, I think most people will learn something new about the carols. I did.

*I received a complimentary ARC of this book through NetGalley and voluntarily chose to review it.

What a joy Michael D. Young's book 'An Advent Carols Countdown' is for me. It is wonderfully structured with embedded links that will launch the reader to performances of the highlighted song. I was appreciative of the immense research employed, especially as related to the carol 'O Come All Ye Faithful' that addressed the potential for the song to be attributed to an ancestor, John Reading. I will get copies for my grandchildren and I know it will become a Christmas classic for all.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. The opinions express in this review are entirely my own.

Some of my favorite things about Christmas are the songs, and this book is a great complement to them. It contains songs I know and love, songs I recognize but have different words, and songs I'm not familiar with at all. Each chapter contains a link where you can listen to a version of the song on the Internet, which was a delight--even when I read this book in July for the first time I had to find each online version and listen to the music. I am looking forward to the Christmas season when I can listen to a song a day until Christmas. I plan on using this book for years to come and making it part of my annual traditions right up there with watching A Christmas Carol.

There seems to be an advent calendar for all sorts of tastes. It is refreshing for an advent book on carols to be published. An Advent Carols Countdown is paced for a chapter/song a day - using standard and lesser known carols. The author even offers possible composers when the authorship isn't clear and different theories as to a carol's exact meaning. The interesting historical information is accompanied by lyrics and QR codes for links to performances of each carol. Considering the length of time needed to use this book, this would be better served as an individual or gift purchase rather than a library acquisition.
Thanks to Shadow Mountain Publishing, author Michael D. Young and NetGalley for this ARC.

Hello!! An Advent Carols Countdown is simply lovely!! When I was little, in kindergarten, we made colored paper rings that we strung together to count down the days until Christmas. I have enjoyed various versions of this activity throughout the years. Christmas has always been a special time to me, and I absolutely love Christmas carols as well as history. The fact that this book combines lore of carols in a sweet way to help readers grow into Christmas is absolutely magical! The writing and description are so perfect and brilliantly done to bring Christmas to the reader as well as to evoke the holiday spirit each day of Advent (and put music into our hearts and minds each day). I was furnished with an ARC from NetGalley, and this is my honest review. Thank you! :)

Book + Christmas + Music = Gold!
I was so excited to receive this little book. It is everything that I love! There is a carol for each day of December to use as a countdown for Christmas. Each day you get the lyrics of a carol, a QR code to watch a musical performance of the song, and a short "About the Carol."
It's the perfect advent to enjoy with the family and I'm fully looking forward to using it this Christmas.

Watch out for this cute little book releasing in September!
Thank you @shadowmountainpub for the advanced copy.

I look forward to reading this book with my family this coming December. I enjoyed reading about the history of the so many familiar Christmas carols. There were a few carols I'd never heard of before. I liked how there were links to YouTube videos with quality performances of the songs. If you love Christmas music and history, then this is the book for you!

Thank you to NetGalley and Shadow Mountain Publishing for my copy. I am grateful but my thoughts are my own.

It is hard to imagine Christmas without music. And the idea of spend Advent time with learning background origin stories about each Christmas Carol are interesting. The book provides lyrics for each Carol and link to music performances too. This book is suitable for all age readers and will become unique Christmas gift option.

Savor this one. I deliberately only allowed myself to read one carol's story per day so as to create the spirit of the title. It not only allowed me to fully take in the background and history shared but time to think about what I'd learned, too, in the midst of my everyday life. It was a complete delight.

Although some of the songs were unfamiliar to me, it didn't matter. Not only are the lyrics and background provided but there was a link to a performance of each song provided in the digital copy I read. In the process, I learned a great deal such as that "Angels We Have Heard On High" is considered a "macaronic" hymn in that the lyrics alternate between Latin and another language, and that "Carol of the Bells" origins are Ukrainian. Beginning life as a folk song basically celebrating winter, it was first performed at Kiev University in 1916 and seems to have made its first American appearance at Carnegie Hall in 1921. "Silent Night" was one of the songs performed by the Von Trapp Family of "Sound of Music" fame when they performed across Europe.

And, oh, so much more. These little details, connecting time periods and people of the times pop up throughout. There's sure to be something for everyone. Even the carols that weren't familiar to me had intriguing back stories, so I thoroughly enjoyed my read and listening to the songs via the links provided. For the more scholarly among us, there is an extensive bibliography provided at the end. Enjoy! I know I did.

Thanks to #NetGalley and #ShadowMountainPublishing for allowing me to tune into this celebration of Christmas. The ties to history and events were fascinating and, of course, what is Christmas without Christmas carols?