What Parents Should Know
Parents need to know that this is a tearjerker. If you're
not up for weeping over it with your child, best to trot out
Night Before Christmas instead. There are some toy
brands mentioned, and there is some mild swearing. Matt's
mother is a drug addict. Also, characters don't believe in
Santa.
Families who read this book could discuss the foster care system, and what it must be like to be a part of it. The book gives especially good insights into the thoughts and feelings of kids with no fixed home. Also, was Matt wrong to hang up Katie's wish? Was Liz's father right? How do the chapter titles -- lines from different carols -- enhance the story?
Common Sense Media Review
Yes, all right, it's true, this is just one cliché
after another: loving orphan needing a family, callous rich
people, near death in the snow, warm hearts, happy endings, a
few good sobs along the way. But when it's stylishly and
lyrically done by a veteran YA novelist, and it's December,
that most uncynical of months -- well, what more could anyone
want? This is what happens when a cliché is put into the
hands of a master.
Before the waterworks start in the last quarter of the book, take time to savor Cooney's beautiful writing, the way she allows the reader to climb inside the heads of the major characters (especially Matt), and the chapter titles, each a line from a different carol (helpfully listed at the back) that relates in interesting ways to the story. There's a feedback between these titles and the chapters that somehow universalizes both. Come January you may feel sheepish about having sobbed over this one, but during the holidays it touches the heart in the most satisfying way -- so powerfully, in fact, that it may get the whole family out of the house on a quest to help others.
Common Sense Media is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing information to help parents make media and entertainment choices for their families.
