Wednesday Book Recommendation

Well, I warned you that the book recommendations this month were going to be Christmas related...and I didn't lie. Today's book is one from my childhood and although the book I'm highlighting today was printed in 1981, the stories come from 1968, 1974, 1966, 1974, and 1965. Good stuff! :-)

Today's book recommendation is Christmas Classics for Children which includes:

• The City That Forgot About Christmas by Mary Warren (1968)
• Journeys to Bethlehem retold by Dorothy Van Woerkom (1974)
• Little Tree and His Wish by Viola Rutz (1966)
• The Mysterious Star by Joanne Marxhausen (1974)
• The Story of Silent Night by John Travers Moore (1965)

This was one of my favorites from my childhood, and I still enjoy pulling it out each year and reading through the stories. I like all the stories, but my two favorites are probably The City That Forgot About Christmas and The Story of Silent Night. Here's a quick rundown of each story:

The City That Forgot About Christmas: A town full of bickering, unhappy people is surprised by a stranger named Mathew who comes to town and sets up a wood carvers shop. He fixes things for the housewives, he makes toys for the children, he gives advice to the men - generally shows goodwill to all. He begins to make a life-size Nativity set and as he carves, he tells the people the true story of Christmas - Christ coming to Earth. The night of the Nativity play, Matthew disappears...

Journeys to Bethleham: Simply put, it's the story of Christ's birth starting at the announcement that Mary and Joseph must go to Bethleham. It follows their trip, the lack of room in the inns, the birth of Jesus, the shepherds, the wisemen, and finally the flight to Egypt.

Little Tree and His Wish: There is a small tree in a forest of great big trees. Little Tree watches as the big trees are cut down and hauled away to become great ships and important things. Little Tree is sad because no one wants him, although the animals play in his branches and people sit under him for shade. Then one day a man comes to the forest and cuts him down. For many years he lays in the corner of a stable, then one day the man turns Little Tree into a manger for animals to eat from. Little Tree is slightly sad that he hasn't been used as something for a king, until one day, a weary couple come to the stable and the woman gives birth to The King of Kings and Little Tree witnesses the event, hears the words of those who visit, and finally holds the Baby Jesus safe and warm. It's a cute story.

The Mysterious Star: A little boy named Jamie learns about the Star of Bethleham. He decides he wants to go in search of the Star, so early one morning he sets out with his wagon and a snack and goes all over town looking for the Star. In the course of his "journey" he meets people who need help or who are sad and lonely. Jamie does something for each person to comfort or assist them, but a the end of the day he comes home sad because he didn't find the Star. When he arrives at home, his father asks who all these people are who are following him - the people who he helped.  They tell Jamie that they saw the Star in the way that he helped each one of them (a reminder that we are Christ to those who need Christ - 2 Cor. 2:14 & 15).

The Story of Silent Night: This is a cute little story about how the song/poem Silent Night came to be written and involves church mice. :-)

This book is available on Abebooks.com (one copy I found was was $4.50 with FREE shipping). If you visit Abebooks (click for link), and search using the ISBN number (0570040582), you should be able to find the correct book. 

See you for next weeks Wednesday Book Recommendation!