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Review by Mary Lee Manier
What is the real meaning of Christmas? Caroline Cooney explores the question in this little novel about three teenagers living in a New England town. They each know that Christmas is "only a chance: you could take the chance or you could ignore it. You could offer your heart, or just deck the halls with boughs of holly."
Liz Kitchell watches her parents, who are "crazy about Christmas," spend weeks each fall decorating every inch of their huge Victorian house. When everything is finished to perfection, they celebrate the holidays with the last word in lavish entertaining. The Kitchells never go to church -- they are too busy planning for their guests, including their older daughter and her husband -- and Liz wonders and worries. Liz has a crush on Tack Knight, a boy in her class, whose parents own and operate a popular restaurant where the Kitchells frequently eat and where Tack serves as head waiter. The Knights are very active at their church and in the community. Every year in their restaurant, they put up a tree hung with wishing bells for children who would not otherwise receive gifts.
Sixteen-year-old Matt, also a classmate of Liz, works in the restaurant. His wishing bell hangs from a similar tree somewhere else. Matt has been shunted from one foster home to another since his drug-addicted mother proved unable to care for him. He is presently living with a family and a second foster child, eight-year-old Katie.
Katie's wish is to find a real family, and Matt, feeling sorry for his foster sister, decides to hang her bell on the restaurant tree. The story reaches an emotional climax on Christmas Eve when Katie leaves the church service, convinced that no family wants her.
These characters from such different social backgrounds come together in the church and in their search for Katie. More than a heartwarming Christmas story, this short novel also lends itself to dramatic adaptation with its action-filled scenes and good potential for dialog.
Mary Lee Manier is a former school librarian in Nashville, Tennessee.
©1997, ProMotion, inc.
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