Description
Very Good+ illustrated dust jacket of kids sledding down a hill, a mylar dust jacket has been added, slight edge-wear. The Very Good+ condition binding is yellow cloth over boards. Black lettering on front and on spine. Some fading to spine, some edge-wear. Slight discoloration to inside front cover and page edges. The binding is tight and pages are clean. The book measures 9.5″ tall x 6.8″ wide.
About the book (from the dust jacket)
“Christmas!” sad Bess softly. To her the wonder of Christmas was a kind of blue-and-gold mystery. It was true it wouldn’t be Christmas without a turkey . . . and Papa said that they would have to choose between a turkey and a few small gifts. But could it still be Christmas with no packages to wrap on Christmas Eve, no secrets to share-and on Christmas morning no bulging stockings of exciting bundles.
Of course there was still the feeling of crisp cold starlight, of bells chiming, There was still company coming for Christmas dinner, with turkey and everything that goes with it… and best of all her sister, Martha, was almost well and would soon be coming home from the hospital. But Bess felt very strange, all the same..
This is the perfect book to read aloud-a book for every child who has ever asked, “What was it like in olden times when you were young Mother?”-and also for every adult who cherishes the memory of Christmases long ago, It is an enchanting story about a family who make Christmas come true in a time of troubles, and of a little girl who learns that the shape and color of Christmas are made up of love given and received.
Marguerite de Angeli, as all her devoted readers know, has her own special way of communicating wonder and magic in her writing and her illustrations. She has never done so more beautifully than in this true story of her own childhood-written for her grandchildren and their children-with all the warmth and reality of happy recollection.
About the author (from the dust jacket)
Marguerite de Angeli was born in Lapeer, Michigan, in 1889, the second of six children. When she was thirteen the family. moved to Philadelphia. She dreamed of writing and drawing but at sixteen she discovered another talent, became the contralto in her church choir and began to study singing in earnest. She became a concert singer but gave up her career to marry John Dailey de Angeli. They moved to Canada, where three of her children were born. After many more moves they settled in Collingswood, New Jersey . .. another girl was born . . . and Mrs.de Angeli began again to draw. After a year of practice she illustrated her first story for The Westminster Press. There followed years of illustrating stories for magazines and books while her children were growing up. Two more babies, little boys, played in the studio around their mother’s easel as she worked.
Reading the stories she illustrated revived Mrs. de Angeli’s interest in writing. Soon she was illustrating her own books -twenty-two in all. In 1950 The Door in the Wall received the Newbery Medal for the most distinguished contribution to children’s literature for that year-and she was established as one of the foremost authors and illustrators of children’s books in America. Thousands of children have loved her books-among them thirteen grandchildren of her own. She now lives in Philadelphia with her husband, writing and painting enthusiastically.
