Starry, Starry Night: Three Holiday Stories [Hardcover]

Lurlene McDaniel (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 13, 1998

Remember the true meaning of the holidays with three touching novellas from best-selling author Lurlene McDaniel.

In the opening novella, "Christmas Child," 15-year-old Melanie is just getting used to the idea of having a sister when she learns that the child will only live for a few hours.  But Melanie learns much about love during her sister's brief but poignant life.  In "The Last Dance," Brenda is faced with the difficult choice between good intentions and what she really wants when she becomes the last chance for happiness for a dying boy.  In "Kathy's Life," two 16-years-olds seem to have everything on the surface, but not everything is as perfect as it appears.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 7 Up-Three stories that feature different heroines, each with a problem. Even though 15-year-old Melanie is slightly embarrassed about her 42-year-old mother's pregnancy, she finds herself becoming more excited about the baby as time passes. She and her parents are devastated when the baby is born without part of its brain. Brenda, a high school junior, has a secret crush on a young man who attends a military academy. Her life becomes complicated when she learns that a local cancer patient has a crush on her. Finally, Ellie Matthias is having difficulty with her boyfriend until she befriends a secretive girl who helps her put things into perspective. All of the stories are loosely tied to the Christmas season. They are absorbing, the characters are well developed, and the author does not resolve the girls' dilemmas with pat solutions. While the cover illustration suggests a younger audience, this has solid YA appeal. Fans of McDaniel's inspirational fiction will enjoy this as will others who have not discovered her work.
Mary M. Hopf, Los Angeles Public Library
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"[The stories] are absorbing, the characters are well developed, and the author does not resolve the girls' dilemmas with pat solutions....Fans of McDaniel's inspirational fiction will enjoy this as will others who have not discovered her work."
--School Library Journal

Starry, Starry Night is the first hardcover book by Lurlene McDaniel, the biggest-selling author of young adult inspirational fiction.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Bantam Books for Young Readers; First Edition edition (October 13, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553571303
• ISBN-13: 978-0553571301
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 4.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,245,521 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Lurlene McDaniel is known for her poignant inspirational novels. She lives in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing, May 31, 2003

By 

Willow (Michigan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Starry, Starry Night: Three Holiday Stories (Mass Market Paperback)

In "Starry, Starry Night," Lurlene McDaniel has written three more wonderful stories that will without a doubt make you cry.

The first story "Christmas Child," is about a fifteen year old girl named Melanie, and her mother is pregnant. Melanie is extremely excited to be an older sister, and has already finished painting the nursery and buying Christmas presents for the baby. Five days before Christmas, her mom goes into labor - and Jessica is born. But there's one problem, Jessica has a terminal illness that can't be fixed...she will die within a few days. Even though Jessica is only in the family's lives for a few days, she changes each of them forever.
This story made me cry, it's a great one!

"Last Dance" is my favorite of the 3 stories. Brenda gets a phone call from a Mrs. Drake, and she's asking her to go out with her son, Doug. Doug has cancer, and his wish is to go out with Brenda, because, according to him "She's the most beautiful girl in the world." Brenda really begins to fall for Doug, but, will it all work out in the end?

"Kathy's Life" is the last story in the book, and my least favorite. Ellie has it all: the boyfriend, the popularity, and...oh yeah, the divorced parents. But when Ellie and Kathy are assigned to do an English project together, they both change, for better. Kathy is the live in nanny for a young couple's son, Christian. When Ellie and Kathy begin to talk, Ellie finds out a big secret, about why Kathy is the way she is.

All the stories in this book are good, but Ellie's (Kathy's Life) story is pretty racy at first...it's pretty different than any other Lurlene McDaniel book in that sense.

Overall grade: A-

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars FIVE STARS ALL THE WAY, March 1, 2004

By 

"blondiebutterkup" (Dallas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Starry, Starry Night: Three Holiday Stories (Mass Market Paperback)

This book is awesome. I sat down almost a whole day and just read this book. I love how it had three different stories in it. I loved all of them i really liked the baby one and i wish tha she would like write like what happens afterwards and so on. She is such a good author i wonder how she gets all these inspiration.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great a must have book !!!, April 24, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Starry, Starry Night: Three Holiday Stories (Hardcover)

It was a great book. It gives you tears at the end but you just crave more of her books. I fell right in to the book. I read it in one day but it was great(sad but great).