From Publishers Weekly
Six Christmas stories by the Newbery Honorwinning author converge to portray the sensitive moods of togetherness, loss, belonging, privation. Garnet Ash has lived alone in an out-of-the-way house ever since his parents died; his solace is growing Christmas trees, and folks ride out to his place once a year. Francis spends part of Christmas Eve with her father in a diner where a stray cat is fed and sheltered. Philip's grandfather comes for the holiday and misses his dead wife; Philip tries to show him "you've got us." Silvia walks the streets of New York, looking for Christmas in the eyes of strangers. Frankie waits yearly for the Christmas train to arrive in the mountains with a special package for him. And Mae, while hungry and sick, tries to find shelter and instead stumbles across a picture of a woman and a baby and stars in the sky. Rylant's Christmas is a sad and lonely one, but her ability to summon the joys of the season through her writing is extraordinary. Schindler's illustrations, appropriately, are both reserved and inciting. A Richard Jackson Book. Ages 8-up.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
About the Author
CYNTHIA RYLANT is the acclaimed author of many beloved books for young people, including the Mr. Putter & Tabby series, the novel Missing May, which received the Newbery Medal, and the Little Whistle series. She lives on an island in Puget Sound, Washington. ARTHUR HOWARD is best known as the illustrator of Cynthia Rylant's Mr. Putter & Tabby series. He is also the illustrator of Kathi Appelt's Bubba and Beau series and has written and illustrated three picture books of his own: Hoodwinked; When I Was Five, an ABA's Pick of the Lists and a Crayola Kids Best Book; and Cosmo Zooms, an IRA-CBC Children's Choice. He lives in New York City.
