Matchless is just that ...

myzticrhythmz@evpl — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 01:00:00 GMT

Every year some of your favorite authors pop up with a new title for the holiday season, and this year is no exception. Richard Paul Evans, Linda Howard, Garrison Keillor, Wally Lamb and several others have new books this Christmas.

My favorite this year is a simple little book by Gregory Maguire, author of the Wicked series of Wizard of Oz books. It's called Matchless, and it is an adaptation of the Hans Christian Andersen tale The Little Match Girl. In this retelling, the match girl's story is woven into that of Frederik Pedersen, a little boy whose widowed mother is the seamstress to the queen. The pair are poor, down to their last bit of tea and last matchstick. Next we meet the match girl who, loses her shoes (one of which Fredrik takes) and is freezing, and she lights her matches one by one until they are gone. Maguire takes us through the sadness of the girl's passing and the story ends happily, as a new family is created.

This story is beautiful in its simplicity and its brevity. Maguire wrote Matchless after being asked by National Public Radio to create an original story with a Christmas theme. The author will read his work Christmas Day on NPR's All Things Considered. Tune in and listen, or snuggle into a cozy chair, grab your favorite read, and have yourself a merry little Christmas!

Classic Christmas stories

GoldensRule@evpl — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 14:48:00 GMT

Christmas is more than shopping... something I hear myself saying more and more lately. It is also a time to pull out those special Christmas books and share them with family and friends. Here are a few that come to mind (all are very short). Truman Capote's A Christmas Memory: Set in rural Alabama during the depression, this autobiographical gem tells the story of Buddy a 7 year old boy and his eccentric and child like 60 year old female cousin. This is a bitter sweet story of love between two misfits and their annual fruit cake baking project. Another that I have just read for the first time is Philip Gulley's Christmas in Harmony. Gulley, a quaker minister, tells a delightful tale of his quirky congregation at Christmas. Lee Smith also pens an engaging tale in the Christmas Letters. These letters span a period of time as generations write to each other at the Christmas season. Smith, a noted Southern writer, has crafted a wonderful novella that portrays the spirit of Christmas. and of course there are many wonderful renditions of the Clement Clark Moore Classic A Visit from St. Nicholas which most of us know as The Night Before Christmas (it is also listed in the library catalogue that way) My favorite version is illustrated by Tasha Tudor who used her own New England farm house for the setting. I still read this version aloud to my children on Christmas Eve from a book I gave them in 1975. It is time to buy new copies for my grandchildren. All of these books and hundreds of other Christmas stories are avaiable at the EVPL. What are some of your favorites. Please let me know ! and Merry Christmas to all

Books Blog : christstmas stories

Matchless is just that ...

Classic Christmas stories