Book Descriptions
for A Midnight Clear by Katherine Paterson
From Cooperative Children's Book Center (CCBC)
Twelve contemporary stories develop widely varied Christmas Eve themes such as a necessary pilgrimage, a desperate need for shelter, or the gift of unconditional love. A girl fulfilling a service requirement by visiting in a nursing home simultaneously experiences unyielding prejudices against both old and new. A family flees injustice by making a perilous border crossing just before their baby is born. After giving coins for a disaster elsewhere in the world, a young man who is house-sitting finds the courage to directly assist a homeless family at the door. As shown in her popular and award-winning novels for children and young adults, Paterson's gifts as a writer are apparent in vivid characterizations, credible dialogue and astute observations about everyday possibilities for transcendence. A welcome companion to her Angels and Other Strangers (HarperCollins, 1979), a similar collection of short fiction. (Ages 12-16)
CCBC Choices 1995. © Cooperative Children's Book Center, Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison, 1995. Used with permission.
From the Publisher
"Katherine Paterson illuminates the true meaning of Christmas in twelve modern-day stories written over the years for her husband, a pastor, to read to his congregation on each Christmas Eve. A man driving to see his dying father picks up a young hitchhiker who attempts to rob him; a proud and lonely widow is befriended by a persevering boy trying to earn a star for his church group; in Communist China, a female scholar and an old night watchman secretly bond together to read the Bible. Whether depicting a child coping with disappointment or a couple awaiting the birth of their baby, all these stories present a vision of hope and peace harking back to that first Christmas two thousand years ago."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Publisher description retrieved from Google Books.