A Gift of Angels: Sequel to the Angel Doll, a Christmas Story [Hardcover]

Jerry Bledsoe (Author), Tim Rickard (Illustrator)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This is Bledsoe's sequel to his 1996 holiday favorite The Angel Doll, continuing the story of young Whitey Black, whose devotion to his four-year-old polio-crippled sister was the subject of the earlier book, narrated by his paper-route partner and buddy. Here Bledsoe relates the circumstances surrounding the birth of The Angel Doll. The grown-up narrator is now a veteran newspaper reporter, reminiscing on his old friend Whitey. Since he never knew Whitey's real name, trying to find him seems impossible. As in real life, the reporter writes The Angel Doll (the outline of the previous book is synopsized so new readers get the gist) hoping to generate enough attention to bring Whitey forth. The reception of that book is recapitulated (an excerpt in Good Housekeeping, etc.), and amid the crush of readings and publicity events, the narrator meets Whitey's daughter, Sandy (named after Whitey's little sister). Sandy provides the missing information about her father's life and gives the narrator a box of Whitey's correspondence, including the revealing letters he wrote while serving in Vietnam. Whitey was a highly decorated lieutenant who died trying to save a little Vietnamese girl from sniper gunfire. The narrator pays his respects to his brave old friend by giving Whitey's young granddaughter, Laurel, a very special Christmas gift. When the story, simple in itself, veers into issues such as publishing and war heroism, much of its elemental power dissipates. While the tale also gets muddled with too many nostalgic details of various restaurants, towns, famous acquaintances and auxiliary characters, Bledsoe's message is undeniably sweet-spirited, and this entre? into the feel-good holiday genre should prove popular for all ages. (Nov.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

Follow-up to The Angel Doll (1997), though Bledsoe is perhaps best known for Death Sentence: The True Story of Velma Barfield's Life, Crimes and Execution (1998) and similar true-crime books. Or maybe not, since The Angel Doll, were told, sold over 100,00 copies, with paperback release for both it and Death Sentence coming in November and a film version in development. The sequel replays the heart of the earlier book: set in the 50s in Thomasville, North Carolina, it tells of two newsboys, the narrator and Whitey Black, and Whitey's dying sister Sandy, who wants an angel doll. Whitey spends his precious nine dollars savings on a doll and a seamstress to dress it as an angel. But, alas, Sandy dies before she gets the angel. The narrator learns years later that Whitey now gives dolls to a children's hospital every Christmas in his sister's memory. Then we hear about North Carolinian Mutt Burton, who was 58 when Bledsoe, a cub reporter, met him at 26. Burton, a gifted photographer and regional actor (he played W.O. Gant in Look Homeward, Angel), celebrated all 12 tingling days of Christmas. He had Christmas in his bones. Mutt's death, and writing The Angel Doll, prompts Bledsoe to seek out the lost Whitey. Long after, he learns that Whitey died a hero in Vietnam. The rest of the story tells of Whitey's life, which is ten times more moving than The Angel Doll and may sell well past Christmas. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 149 pages
• Publisher: Down Home Press; First Edition edition (October 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1878086804
• ISBN-13: 978-1878086808
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 5.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,399,056 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a moving sequel to one of the world's great books, October 11, 1999

By 

Christopher R. Kerr (Hastings on Hudson, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Gift of Angels: Sequel to the Angel Doll, a Christmas Story (Hardcover)

All I can say is that this sequel was everything I could have hoped for; readers of Angel Doll will embrace this book as well.