The Christmas Barn

My 11 year old daughter just finished this short novel yesterday and loved it. A poor family with six children goes through a variety of calamities during the Depression, but gets through it all by working together. Humorous too. Worth buying a used copy for your child. In fact, worth getting back into print! Publishers, are you listening?

Mama and all the kids were helping mama cook dinner while papa was out of town. when he got home they went through the mail and found a letter from their aunt floss. they thought she had died because no one had heard from her for a long time. mama ran to the room and started to cry, abuot an hour latter she came out of her room and after she put the quiltin scraps in her pine tree chest. all the kids were looking thruogh the book of dreams. the kids days were abuot the same chores eat clean cook play if they had time andsleep. papa went to town or got fire wood for the wood stove. mama cooked cleaned took care of the kids and sewed. then a big storm hit and papa couldnt leave because they couldnt get out of their house the kids had to cllimb out the window and start to shovel a path to the door so papa can help them shovel.the snow was to heavey for a tree and it fell on the house while mama and the girls were washing the clothes. to see what happens you have to read the rest of the story.

This is a very good book...you should read this book!!!This book is one of the best books i have read in a very long time.This book is about a family that lives back in the early 1900's and they live on a farm.The family is eating supper one night when they see that it is starting to snow.it was around Christmas time and they were so excited.they went to bed and when they got up roxie went outside to get her mom some water and she couldnt get out the front door.so they woke up their papa and all the kids and they went out the window and shovled snow all day and the next day.when they were outside working they seen that the pine tree was getting weighted down with snow.It started to leen over to the house and all of the sudden it fell on the house..well if you want to know more about this book you will have to get it and check it out..this book will keep you wondering until you finish it..i say that you should just sit down and read it.Its a great book for kids.

Roxie Dockery lives with her family in the North Carolina Mountains in 1930. The Depression is raging everywhere in the country, but it doesn't make much difference to the Dockery family. They have always been poor and they've learned to manage very well. Roxie knows that how much money you have isn't important. The stuffing you have inside you is what counts when trouble hits.And trouble hits hard just before Christmas. Roxie and her five brothers and sisters are all looking forward to Grandpa George and Grandma Vic, her father's parents, coming to visit like they always do at Christmas. And they're looking forward to the candy that their father brings from town for their stockings, too. But snow comes instead. Lots and lots of it. Roxie wakes up one morning, opens the front door, and sees snow filling their whole porch, from floor to roof. All the kids have to climb out a little window and scoop out a trail from the side of the house all around to the door so their father can get out and help them. They use buckets and pans. Then they have to bail a path to the water pump and all the outbuildings. It takes the whole day. Worse than that, more snow comes that night, and the next day they have to do it all over again. They can't walk through the snow to school, Grandpa George and Grandma Vic won't be able to get through the snow, either, and there won't be any Christmas candy from town.But trouble isn't through with the Dockery family. One morning a few days before Christmas, when everybody except four-year-old John is outside doing the laundry, they hear a groaning sound, and then a loud snap. The big pine tree beside their house, covered with ice, bends and then breaks. Everybody watches it fall on the house, with John inside.What will they do if they've lost John? What will they do without a house in the middle of a cold and bitter winter? You will want to read this book to discover how the Dockery family face up to their troubles and show how it's what's inside you that counts, not how much trouble you have. --- (...)

The Christmas Barn is an excellent read and gift for children and anyone that was alive during the Great Depression. I've purchased copies for everyone in my family. During these tough economic times, a look back to harsher times and the true Christmas spirit may make this book a classic one day!