It’s not Christmas yet, but joy and festivities can be shared all year round at one special place in our homes: the kitchen!
Celebrity chef Carla Hall is bringing us a taste of the holiday season through her new kids’ book, Carla and the Christmas Cornbread. Written for kids ages 4 and up, this tale is inspired by Hall’s own childhood and Christmas traditions.

Illustrated by Cherise Harris, the book takes preschoolers on an adventure with Carla, whose favorite holiday of the year is Christmas. She goes to her grandparents’ house and eats grandma’s special cornbread recipe, listens to her grandpa’s awesome stories about traveling the world, and spends lots of time with family. But when Carla accidentally takes a bite out of Santa’s sugar cookie, she thinks she’s ruined Christmas! With her grandmother’s help, Carla comes up with a plan to save her favorite holiday.
The book honors a long-standing custom of Black families by depicting Santa Claus as a Black man. Through this representation, kids will also be able to resonate with the holiday traditions they grow up believing in, or get introduced to other ways of celebrating Christmas.
Carla and the Christmas Cornbread will launch on Nov. 2, and is available for pre-order on Amazon now.