"Mo Smells the Holidays" from back to school to New Year's. Credit: Amanda Giacomini

When Margaret Hyde began to write "Mo Smells the Holidays," the third in her "Mo's Nose" series of kids' books, she didn't visualize coals in a burning hearth, or carolers singing in a light snow. As has been the hallmark of her series, she used her nose.

"I knew that the scents of the holidays were really important," she tells Holidash. "I mean, those are how we really think of the holidays. I think you think of those smells, whatever they are, in your family or in your community."

It makes more sense when you know that Hyde's title character is a rescue dog named Mo who sees the world through his snout. The books use a technology Hyde refers to as "Press 2 Smell," which allows here young readers to experience the scents along with Mo. The first two books feature a color associated with a broad or abstract concept -- red for love, green for nature.

For her holiday book, Hyde used her own favorite "scents" memories, which starts at "back to school" and covers Halloween, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, and New Year's.

"I just thought of the scents of the holidays that I really love, like gingerbread, pine from Christmas trees, pumpkin pie, chocolate, caramel," she says. "We have a Granny Smith apple smell as a back to school at the beginning of the book. I think of that kind of smell for the fall. I just drew on my experiences, my own enjoyment of the holidays, and then what I thought kids and parents would relate to."

Capturing those smells can be a complicated process. Hyde makes suggestions to the company that produces them, Aura Cacia Pure Aromatherapy, and they apply them to the books, or, in the case of "Mo Smells the Holidays," to the packaged stickers that come with the book. They send her different oils to test until they hit on the right mix. The "Press 2 Smell" oils only release when they are pressed, which should mean that the book will remain cheerfully fragrant for many holidays to come.

"Hopefully it really captures that scent we're looking for," Hyde tells us. "We have caramel in there, and pumpkin pie. And you work to get those scents. Some cinnamon is also in pumpkin pie, and some vanilla, and just a whole combination, like when you're cooking."

Mo's Nose has become a bit of its own green-minded, family-friendly cottage industry, by design. Mo's namesake is the dog of her friend Amanda Giacomini, who illustrates the books. Giacomini rescued her Mo from the streets of Oakland, and Hyde says, "We wanted to have the spirit of him giving back continued throughout the brand."

Hyde's daughter Spencer and sons Jackson and Jasper also help out. "He's been my editor and my best critic," she says of Jasper, "and if he doesn't like the way something smells, I know that that can't go in the book. My daughter has really helped. She sixteen and has been this amazing Mo's salesperson. She'll come present with me and she sells more Mo stuff than anybody else. They're all very enthusiastic about Mo."

The books are published domestically to reduce the company's carbon footprint, and made with all-soy inks. Likewise, the clothing line associated with the books is all cotton, sewn domestically, and printed with vegetable dye. Some of the proceeds have gone to a charity called Best Friends Animal Society, which works to prevent animals from getting euthanized in shelters and to find homes for more pets.

"That was really exciting to me," says Hyde, "to be able to do that kind of book which wove in the message of giving back and the spirit of giving ad well as receiving, but not in a heavy-handed way."

Click here for "Mo's Nose" holiday deals.