What Child Is This?: A Christmas Story [Hardcover]

Caroline B. Cooney (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 6, 1997

On this Christmas Eve, the snow lies on the ground and the stars shine bright, but the grown-ups leave a lot to be desired.

And the children desire so much.

Katie, a foster child, wants only one thing: a family.

Who is there who can bring such as immense gift?  There are no wise men coming from the East.  There are no shepherds watching in the fields.

But there is Matt Morden, age sixteen, who believes he is doing a good deed.

There is Liz Kitchell, also sixteen, whose family decorates and celebrates but leaves Liz wondering where the meaning of the holiday has gone.

There are Mr.  Knight and his son, Tack, who run an inn and put up a tree on which children's wishes will hang, waiting to be granted.

It's Christmas, the season of miracles, joy, and hope.  Is that spirit strong enough to bring about the impossible?

Join Caroline B.  Cooney, bestselling author of The Face on the Milk Carton and The Voice on the Radio, in celebrating a most memorable Christmas.  What Child Is This? is a story about giving and the beauty of love.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 5-10?A heart-tugging story with an upbeat ending, told in alternating chapters by the young people involved. Eight-year-old Katie, an emotionally starved foster child, writes a wish on a paper bell that will be hung on a Christmas tree in a local restaurant. There, members of the community can choose a request and give a gift to a needy child. However, Katie doesn't ask for toys or clothing?she wishes for a family. Although the social worker says her request is inappropriate, Matt, a high school student who lives in the same foster home and works in the restaurant, hangs the bell on the tree. Liz, Matt's classmate, is upset when her uncaring father reads the wish, calls it ridiculous, and tears up the bell. Meanwhile, Liz's older sister struggles with her grief over the recent death of her baby. When Matt tells Katie on Christmas Eve that her wish will not come true, the devastated girl runs out into a blizzard, setting off a chain of events that brings about a resolution befitting a holiday tale. Showing her flair for adolescent angst, Cooney allows the characters to speak for themselves, eventually weaving their lives together into a fitting climax. A moving, fast paced novel, sure to appeal to Cooney's fans.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"A heart-tugging story with an upbeat ending...Cooney allows the characters to speak for themselves, eventually weaving their lives together into a fitting climax. A moving, fast paced novel, sure to appeal to Cooney's fans."
--School Library Journal

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Hardcover: 160 pages
• Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers (October 6, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385323174
• ISBN-13: 978-0385323178
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,033,919 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book can only be described by fate., November 17, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: What Child Is This?: A Christmas Story (Hardcover)

This book shows how the meaning of Christmas can be lost. In this book two sixteen year olds only want one thing for Christmas. They want Katie, age 8, to get a family for Christmas. This book is so enteresting because you have to wait until the every end of the book to find the outcome. It does not have just one good part. This book has several good parts. It defines love, loss, and hope.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What person will not love this?, December 14, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: What Child Is This?: A Christmas Story (Mass Market Paperback)

Orphans have no hope most of the year, but Christmas is a time for all the hope you can muster. So as a gesture of kindness Matt offers to hang a special bell on a special tree for Katie. Matt and Katie are orphans at the same foster home, Matt has no hope anymore but all Katie wants is a family. It is a Christmas Eve that no one will ever forget, not Tack, Liz, Allison, Katie, or even hopeless Matt. It's the time when one insignificant orphan's wish comes true. This is a heart warming book that will teach you the real meaning of Christmas. Everyone in this book will grow just a little above their normal selves. I think that every one should read this book during Christmas. We all stray from the path of giving, but this will remind us that all is takes is a little giving to make a child smile.

Fiction

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Celebrate the spirit of the holiday, December 29, 1998

By 

Jim Barber ([e-mail] (Atlanta, Georgia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: What Child Is This?: A Christmas Story (Hardcover)

In the hurry-up holiday that Christmas has become, What Child Is This puts the spirit back into the season of peace, hope and love. All that and more is in this gem of a story that leaves you hungry to experience the true meaning of Christmas. I'm partial to Christmas stories in general, but this book shines like a child's eyes on Christmas morning.