The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey

by Susan Wojciechowski

Illustrated by P. J. Lynch

Click here to buy

www.chapters.indigo.ca

"Christmas is pish-posh," grumbles Jonathan Toomey, the best wood carver in the valley. He's a Scroogelike recluse; but he's a gentle grouch, it turns out, and he hides a sad secret. He's transformed, not by Dickensian ghosts, but by an eager seven-year-old boy and his widowed mother who ask him to make them a Christmas creche. The story verges on the sentimental, but it's told with feeling and lyricism (he "traveled till his tears stopped" ). Lynch's sweeping illustrations, in shades of wood grain, are both realistic and gloriously romantic, focusing on faces and hands at work before the fire and in the lamplight. In a beautiful, elemental scene, the angry wood carver stands on the threshold of his home, disturbed by the gentle widow and her son who want his help and will transform his life. Hazel Rochman (c) Amazon.com

This is an absolutely wonderful story of Christmas love and redemption!! Our school, Gibsons Christian School, did the story as a Christmas play one year, under the direction of one of the teachers, Angela Collins. It was very touching and appreciated by the audience. This story is well-crafted and the illustrations are gorgeous! I would definitely recommend this book to all families!! As an added bonus, this book comes with an audio recording on cd of the story being read aloud!!