| 
Season’s
Readings
Reviewed by Laurie Williams Sowby
Christmas-themed books abound, and many are intended mainly to look
at. But here are three that are intended to be read — and
enjoyed. Last-minute shoppers still may be able to pick these up
at LDS bookstores everywhere.
Click to Buy
A Christmas Treasury for Latter-day Saint Families
(Deseret Book, $21.95), by Lloyd and Karmel Newell, goes the standard
collection one better with old-fashioned illustrations and content
that carries special appeal as a read-aloud book. In hardcover with
124 sturdy pages, it offers 25 short "chapters" with such
themes as hope, gratitude, love, simplicity, service, family, adversity,
and joy.
In addition to the usual poems and stories contained in such collections,
Treasury has scriptures, quotes and anecdotes by LDS general authorities.
The 24th chapter, "Christmas Eve," offers both Clement
C. Moore’s "The Night before Christmas" and the
Christmas story found in Luke 2. The 25th chapter speaks of testimony,
including that of Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon regarding Jesus
Christ as the Savior of the world.
Unlike most collections of this type, sources for the quotes, literature,
and excerpts from church history are documented in endnotes.
Reading together A Christmas Treasury for Latter-day Saint Families
would make a great holiday tradition — although most of us
would not sound as good as Tabernacle Choir announcer Lloyd Newell
reading his own book aloud!
Click to Buy
 The
Light of Hope (Covenant, $14.95) is Emeritus General
Authority Vaughn J. Featherstone’s contribution to the season
with, as the cover suggests, "Heartfelt Stories that bring
the True Christmas Spirit." The 199-page hardcover covers a
variety of aspects of the Christmas season, always urging remembrance
of the Savior.
In the first chapter, Featherstone muses on Luke, "the gentle
physician" who wrote of Christ’s birth, and comments
on what a doctor’s perspective might be about Mary, the trip
to Bethlehem, and her experience as a first-time mother. In other
chapters, he shares his own experiences and also borrows from others
to make a point, including Mother Teresa, LDS general authorities,
and printed articles. Gentle humor mixes with poignant retelling.
Unfortunately, the complete source is not always noted, as with
the story from "a national women’s magazine" that
fails to credit the LDS author. Neither is it clear whether the
stand-alone poems are his own.
But the stories are always memorable, such as the one about Featherstone’s
own youthful yearning for a coat that his single mother could not
afford; neither did his younger siblings get their wish. He remembers
that Christmas because "it was the Christmas I finally grew
up" and learned empathy for others.
Click to Buy
 A
Return to Christmas (Covenant, $7.95), by Chris Heimerdinger,
has been a perennial favorite of our family for at least a decade.
It’s now available in a newly released paperback edition,
but it’s the same engaging tale of mistaken identity, with
the same clever dialogue and non-stop action that characterize Heimerdinger's
popular Tennis Shoes series.
The comical adventure tells of two 11-year-old boys in Salt Lake
City, one from an affluent family and the other a street urchin,
who discover the true meaning of Christmas when their roles (and
families) are switched. The popularity of the novel has understandably
reached beyond LDS audiences to national interest.
A Return to Christmas makes an excellent chapter-a-night
read-aloud story for the family, before or after Christmas.
© 2007 Meridian
Magazine. All Rights Reserved
|
