Customer Reviews

Christmas Day in the Morning

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book truly exemplifies the true meaning of christmas, to love one another. When Rob, the 15 year old boy of a modest farm family, overhears his parents talking, he comes to realize the love his father has for him and the love he also holds for his father. Not having the money to purchase a gift that he feels expresses this love, he chooses to surprise his father by doing the morning milking and chores before the usual 4AM. He sneaks out to the barn and his heart bursts with love as he waits for his father to discover the surprise. The illustrations are beautiful, dark and dusky like the time of day before surnrise, and the clouds in the sky take the shape of the Holy Family on the first Christmas. A valuable lesson for all. The gift of love is the most precious gift of all.

I collect Christmas stories and purchase only one or two each year. My criteria are excellent storyline as well as beautiful illustrations. This book hits the mark on both counts. The storyline is both "real" and touching. It emphesizes the important things about Christmas including being together as a family and serving others. Truely, the best gifts, as this story illustrates, do not come from the store.

This story is beautifully written and illustrated. It will be a Christmas story that we will read year after year in our family. It is a poignant tale of a boy and his father and the realization by the boy that he is truly loved and wants to return that love. As an adult, it makes me look back on my childhood and love my parents even more by seeing the small things they did for me. It brought tears to my eyes.

We own many of Mark Buehner's books and that is why I purchased this Pearl S. Buck book. I was so pleasantly surprised by how wonderful the story was as well as the illustrations. Be sure to look for the figures hidden in the illustrations. Mark Buehner is famous for doing this in his illustrations. Mary, Joseph, the Christ Child, angels, and animals are hidden in the clouds over the barn on the cover. You will find characters throughout the book in the clouds, in the grain of the woodwork, and in the fabric of quilts and furniture. My children love looking for these hidden objects.

I disagree that this book is not for the very young. We got this book for our daughter when she was 20 months old. (It may not work in some families, but we have found it's the topics that aren't discussed that scare children.)* It has been a favorite year after year. We love this book because it gets at the SPIRIT of Christmas. A boy truly gives of himself to ensure a happy holiday for his family, especially his father who normally doesn't get a break. This book teaches empathy by example without preaching. The illustrations are beautiful and so is the prose. We've seen a few books that try to share the same message but fail because adults in the stories TELL the children they should buy or do things for others or they employ subtle guilt (but don't kid yourself, even young children sense that). Highly reccommended for all ages.

*a previous reviewer said there was a problem with the reference to the deceased father many years after this special holiday [after the boy has a family of his own]. The reader does not know how or when the father died and it is not emphasized. The adult son is only remembering his father.

Beautifully illustrated. Wonderfully touching story. My four year old son understood the message which is about real love and maturity, especially in a family.

This book is about a boy who realizes his father loves him when he overhears his father saying that he hates to wake him to milk the cows. The story takes place in the 'olden days' so it has an appeal and will spark questions about what Christmas was like years ago. The message is that it's more blessed to give than to recieve and also that the best and most memorable gifts don't necessarily come from a store.

This book is a wonderful book for all ages. It should be in every home and considered a Christmas classic. Timeless lesson of an unselfish heart and the blessings it gives. Simular to the Gift of the Magi in lesson

This has always been one of my favorite Christmas stories, and a couple of years ago, my mom gave me this lovely hardcover version of it.

The story opens with a man remembering a long ago Christmas when money was scarce and he wanted to find the best possible gift for his father. Overhearing his father tell his mother how much he hates to waken his son each morning to do the milking, Rob realizes how much his father really does love him. He decides that the gift he will give his father is to do all the milking on Christmas morning, so that his father won't have to do it.

This is a lovely story of selfless love and service. The interactions between father and son are beautiful. An easy book for children to read and a perfect book to read aloud as a family.

This is a beautifully written story with gorgeous illustrations that reminds us that Christmas is not about the brightly wrapped gifts under the tree, it's about love. The father who notices that his child doesn't like getting up in the morning to do chores gives his son the gift of doing them for him. No secrets wrapped in bright paper, no consumerism -- just a simple gift given from the heart. This is a wonderful book to share with your children at the holidays; make it a tradition they will always remember and set aside special times to read this.

This book is wonderfully illustrated and the overall message is valuable, but some of the content and language is not appropriate for ages 4-6. The whole book is framed by the older narrator thinking of his father who has been dead for many years. With my child and many other young ones, this sparks the question about whether their mother and father are going to die soon -- not exactly Christmas material. I regularly read my daughter many books geared for older children, but this book has overall sentence structures and word choices that are really not in my mind geared for children.