Twenty-Four Days Before Christmas

If you love Madeleine L'Engle's books, then this is a definite "must have" for the holidays. Read about the Austin family as they prepare for Christmas, the church pageant, and a new addition to the family. Their warmth and love for each other are contagious, and yet they are a "real" family, growing pains and all. This is a fabulous book for young girls - and one to read every year in preparation for the holiday season.

L'Engle's prequel to the Austin Family series extols the virtues of patience and love as a young Vicky waits for the anvent of Christmas and a new baby. Adults and children alike will enjoy savoring the book in anticipation of the holiday. It's a great tool for slowing down the comercialized pace of the season. I'd reccomend the illustrated hardback, but I'm afraid it's out of print!

Against the backdrop of the approaching Christmas holiday, her role in the church play, and her family's wonderful holiday traditions, young Vicky Austin experiences feelings of rivalry for a sibling not yet born, and whose impending birth threatens to disrupt the holiday. This is a warm, loving book. It is an excellent story for older children, and I would recommend making the reading of it, chapter by chapter, part of a family's preparation for Christmas, like a literary advent calendar