Friday, December 4, 2009

A Season of Gifts by Richard Peck

It's the holiday season...and while I am a sucker for classic favorites like The Gift of the Magi or A Christmas Carol, it is always a delight to find a new holiday treat to read with a cup of warm cider or cocoa.

Grandma Dowdel is a character for the folk record books. She lives by the "rob Peter to pay Paul" system of management, and she does it with shotgun in one hand and a loaf of bread for the neighbors in the other. Her heart is always in the right place, even if her tounge is not.

It is now several years since we have last seen her, 1958, the Great Depression is over, but threads of poverty remain in rural Illinois. A new family has moved into town and right next door to Grandma Dowdel--a Methodist minister, his wife, and children. They need more than just a full church, they need a friend in town, and Grandma might just be that friend, whether she wants to be or not. From haunted melon patches, to run-ins at the privy, and a kidnapped tree, this short novel is full of high jinks and misdemeanors that will entertain many for years to come.


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