Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Book Review: The Paper Bag Christmas





THE PAPER BAG CHRISTMAS begins in the year 1980 with Molar Alan and his brother Aaron visiting Santa in the mall. Even though they thought they were too old to see Santa, their parents insisted that go anyway. While in line the boys noticed that Santa was not letting the children sit on his lap, instead they were just standing by him and handing him their Christmas wish lists. Right before it was their turn, the Santa visits closed for a two hour lunch. However, Santa allowed the two boys to come and talk to him. It turns out that he was Dr. Christopher K. Ringle, a friend of their family. He had lost both of his legs and had inflatables underneath so as not to scare the children, but that was the reason that the kids could not sit on his lap.

Molar and Aaron had spent their entire time waiting in line writing down every toy and material thing on their list that they could possibly think of. When Dr. Ringle saw the list he paused and said this to them: “The things on your list are nice, I suppose. And yet, they miss the mark entirely when it comes to true Christmas joy. Boys, would you like to get something for Christmas better than everything you’ve written down?”” (p. 19) Dr. Ringle gave Molar and Aaron an address to be at on Monday night and told them that they were going to be his elves and help him out. When Molar and Aaron arrive on Monday they find out that the address is a Children’s Hospital. Through the relationships that they build with the patients, they learn the true meaning of Christmas.

THE PAPER BAG CHRISTMAS is an extremely touching and moving book. Watching the two boys discover that there is more to Christmas than the latest toys and mountains of presents was very heartwarming and emotional. While the book is small in size, it is definitely full of substance. It is amazing to me that Kevin Alan Milne is a first time author as, in my opinion, he rates up there with the best of them! This book would make an excellent gift for anyone this holiday season!


For more information about the book and the author visit the Hachette website.

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