This brief novel is appropriate for children (as long as they are as precocious as Katie) as well as young adults and older...
The story of a precocious 6-year-old, Katie, whose Christmas wish list is not for toys and gifts for herself, but rather for good things to happen to people she cares about.
She also wishes for a newer, fresher Nativity scene to replace the cracking, peeling plastic figures outside the town library since, as she explains to the adults who question her, the Nativity scene is very important. As the story unfolds, the sad librarian who once dated and loved Katie’s older brother, only to be rejected by him when he decided he must marry within his Amish faith, finally finds true love and is able to forgive the man who broke her heart. After a bit of a scare, the wife of another of Katie’s older brothers delivers a healthy, happy baby that the couple decides to name in honor of Katie. The dilapidated Nativity figures begin to disappear somewhat mysteriously, but in the end, the whole town comes together in a live reenactment of the important Nativity scene just as Katie imagined and hoped that they would. The author was a schoolteacher before she started to write best-selling fiction, which probably explains why the character of Katie, while unusually precocious, comes across as credible. The adult characters are also believable and likable.
This brief novel is appropriate for children (as long as they are as precocious as Katie) as well as young adults and older adults intrigued by the often surprising wisdom and insight of young children.Pub Date: Nov. 20, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-06-224254-9
Page Count: -
Publisher: Avon Inspire/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Oct. 21, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
These letters from some important executive Down Below, to one of the junior devils here on earth, whose job is to corrupt mortals, are witty and written in a breezy style seldom found in religious literature. The author quotes Luther, who said: "The best way to drive out the devil, if he will not yield to texts of Scripture, is to jeer and flout him, for he cannot bear scorn." This the author does most successfully, for by presenting some of our modern and not-so-modern beliefs as emanating from the devil's headquarters, he succeeds in making his reader feel like an ass for ever having believed in such ideas. This kind of presentation gives the author a tremendous advantage over the reader, however, for the more timid reader may feel a sense of guilt after putting down this book. It is a clever book, and for the clever reader, rather than the too-earnest soul.
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1942
ISBN: 0060652934
Page Count: 53
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 17, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1943
Hoffman (The Red Garden, 2011, etc.) births literature from tragedy: the destruction of Jerusalem's Temple, the siege of Masada and the loss of Zion.
This is a feminist tale, a story of strong, intelligent women wedded to destiny by love and sacrifice. Told in four parts, the first comes from Yael, daughter of Yosef bar Elhanan, a Sicarii Zealot assassin, rejected by her father because of her mother's death in childbirth. It is 70 CE, and the Temple is destroyed. Yael, her father, and another Sicarii assassin, Jachim ben Simon, and his family flee Jerusalem. Hoffman's research renders the ancient world real as the group treks into Judea's desert, where they encounter Essenes, search for sustenance and burn under the sun. There too Jachim and Yael begin a tragic love affair. At Masada, Yael is sent to work in the dovecote, gathering eggs and fertilizer. She meets Shirah, her daughters, and Revka, who narrates part two. Revka's husband was killed when Romans sacked their village. Later, her daughter was murdered. At Masada, caring for grandsons turned mute by tragedy, Revka worries over her scholarly son-in-law, Yoav, now consumed by vengeance. Aziza, daughter of Shirah, carries the story onward. Born out of wedlock, Aziza grew up in Moab, among the people of the blue tunic. Her passion and curse is that she was raised as a warrior by her foster father. In part four, Shirah tells of her Alexandrian youth, the cherished daughter of a consort of the high priests. Shirah is a keshaphim, a woman of amulets, spells and medicine, and a woman connected to Shechinah, the feminine aspect of God. The women are irretrievably bound to Eleazar ben Ya'ir, Masada's charismatic leader; Amram, Yael's brother; and Yoav, Aziza's companion and protector in battle. The plot is intriguingly complex, with only a single element unresolved. An enthralling tale rendered with consummate literary skill.
Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-4516-1747-4
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Scribner
Review Posted Online: April 5, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2011
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