Synopses & Reviews
From the author of the 2013 Caldecott Honor Book, ONE COOL FRIEND!
Frances is determined to make Christmas jolly for her younger brother, even if it means joining family on the mainland and leaving Papa behind on their isolated lighthouse island. After all, would Santa even know how to find them in this faraway spot? But when Christmas Eve is ushered in on a wild storm and Papa risks his life to rescue a drowning man, the children realize that the most important thing about the holiday is being together.
As in all great Christmas stories, a happy ending is in store, and Santa finds them after all. Cozy and nostalgic, this story was inspired by the Flying Santa program, a New England tradition since 1929. It's the perfect book for a family to read together in front of the fire on Christmas morning.
Review
"There's a charmingly nostalgic feel both to the story and to the illustrations, which convey a sense of time and place and are very appealing...A lovely tradition and a lovely book." -
SLJ, starred review
"ÉBuzzeo's text homes in on just the right details to keep her narrative grounded in both physical and emotional reality. Equally restrained yet full of feeling, Nancy Carpenter's illustrations, a mixture of pen and ink and watercolor, hit an evocative, cinematic peak in depicting a nighttime rescue at sea, a harrowing event that propels the story to its happy ending... Here is true grace in unlikely surroundings - away in a manger, so to speak." - NYT Review
"Buzzeo's Christmas offering puts a bit of holiday tinsel on the tried-and-true taleÉ The telling is smooth and engaging, and Carpenter's mixed-media pictures set the appropriate mood - warm and hospitable inside the lighthouse, dark and tempestuous outside - so even children who are yet unfamiliar with the lighthouse-keeper's-daughter trope will cheer the heroics right on cue." - BCCB Reviews
"Softly shaded illustrations evoke their spare, lonely life in the lighthouse and shows the love between sister and brother and parent and child...A gentle but dramatic story of an earlier time, when just one care package could make a happy Christmas for an entire family." - Kirkus
Review
* “There’s a charmingly nostalgic feel both to the story and to the illustrations, which convey a sense of time and place and are very appealing.”
Review
“Readers looking for a feel-good holiday story will find one here.”
Review
“Mixed-media spreads filled with homespun period accents spark the poignant story.”
Review
“A gentle but dramatic story of an earlier time.”
Review
“The telling is smooth and engaging, and Carpenter’s mixed media pictures set the appropriate mood.”
About the Author
Toni Buzzeo, a former teacher and school librarian, is now a full time author with many picture books to her credit, including Adventure Annie Goes to Kindergarten, The Sea Chest, and the Caldecott Honor winner One Cool Friend. She and her husband, Ken, divide their time between Sarasota, Florida and Buxton, Maine.