Angels and Donkeys: Tales for Christmas and Other Times [Hardcover]

Andre Trocme (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 25, 2002 | Age Level: 4 and up | Grade Level: P and up

The stories in this collection were told by Pastor Andre' Trocme to the children of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon while France was under seige, occupied by Hilter's troops. The rescuers did not know what their neighbors were doing. No one talked. Excellent for both children and adults.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: French

From the Back Cover

Here for the first time in English are the original stories told by well-known French pastor André Trocmé as he stood by the huge lighted tree in the church in Le Chambon-sur-Lignon on Christmas Day each year. Trocmé as the Protestant pastor, his wife, Magda, along with many others, are credited with saving the lives of thousands of refugees, many of them Jewish children, by hiding them in the area. Nelly Trocmé was a teenager during those treacherous days. “May the reader remember that several of these stories were written during the occupation of France by Hitler,” the author says in his introduction. “The gospel of the birth, the death, and the resurrection of Christ was the only valid answer to the diabolical horrors perpetrated by the princes of this world.” These tales, many based on biblical stories, include charming fantasy, colorful angels and animals, and a sense of surviving the dangers which surround all of us. Excellent for both children and adults. Great to read aloud.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4 and up
  
• Hardcover: 170 pages
• Publisher: Good Books (March 25, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1561482633
• ISBN-13: 978-1561482634
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,296,624 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A lovely little book about compassion and courage, November 21, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Angels and Donkeys: Tales for Christmas and Other Times (Hardcover)

What a rare and precious thing - a book to inspire compassion in children and adults, without heavyhanded moralizing. Nelly Trocme Hewett and Good Books have done the world of children's literature a great service in translating Pastor Andre Trocme's one-of-a-kind stories. Words do instill courage - in the people of a French mountain village 50 years ago, and now, thanks to this lovely little book, in the hearts of people everywhere.

Mary Stucky Minnesota Public Radio Producer

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Christmas fables from Le Chambon, August 5, 2007

By 

Lee W. Smith (Red Cliff, CO) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Angels and Donkeys: Tales for Christmas and Other Times (Hardcover)

This wonderful little book makes available to English-language readers the stories told by Huguenot pastor Andre Trocme in the village of Le Chambon in southern France during the dark days of rule, first by the collaborationist regime of French fascists Henri-Phillipe Petain and Pierre Laval and later directly by the German occupation regime. Trocme and his wife, Magda, both pacifists, had come to Le Chambon in 1934 from northern France where they had been ministering among industrial workers. The front page of his church paper bore this passage (from 1 John 4:20): "If anyone says, 'I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen , cannot love God whom he has not seen." In his memoirs, Trocme wrote that his faith was in the possibility of goodness on earth "without which the theoretical existence of God doesn't interest me." Trocme's role as their shepherd during Vichy and the occupation surely played a role in the rescue by the 5,000 people of that plateau of 5,000 refugees, 3,500 of them Jews. These were Christians who - like their pastor and unlike most of Europe's Christians under the Nazis - practiced what they preached. The living faith of this true disciple of Jesus shines through these Christmas stories. See Pierre Sauvage's documentary about Trocme and the people of Le Chambon. Weapons of the Spirit

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Truth at Christmas, November 26, 2000

By 

Aelred Woodard osb (Olympia, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Angels and Donkeys: Tales for Christmas and Other Times (Hardcover)

A wonderful little collection of stories for anyone from eight to ninety-nine who wants to know the real truth of Christmas. Told out of the experience of the bravery of several of the folk of the Plateau Vivrai-Lignon in France during World War II, crafted by their most famous spokesman,Pastor Andre Trocme, these stories, mostly told at Christmas, combine poetry with unflinching truth. I especially appreciated the story of the elderly, misanthropic woman who, when she finally hears of the plight of the Holy Family, dismantles her own furnace and sends it, at considerable cost to her welfare, to Bethlehem.... Charm never hides the truth that prompted the stories--saving over 5000 refugees from Hitler. Still, the hope that is the point of the coming of Christ is portrayed in contemporary situations that certainly charmed me. I'm sending it to several friends, from eight to ninety-nine (pace Amazon.com)for Christmas presents.