REVIEW: Curl up with a book this break
Hopefully by now you are all whittling away at your homework assignments and getting ready for a month-long break from studying. If your semester was anything like mine, nothing sounds better than doing as little as possible over the break. However, watching all that TV will eventually become tiring, and I have two perfect books for you to curl up on the couch with.
“Gideon’s Gift,” by Karen Kingsbury
This is one of those books that takes only a couple hours to read, but one that stays in your mind for weeks. It is a short book, but it packs a punch in meaning. I promise it will make you cry every time — in a good way.
People say I’m heartless. I never cry from watching movies, I get more upset when the horses die in movies than people and I gag at sappy love stories. Yet, this book brings tears to my eyes every time I read it.
“Gideon’s Gift” centers around two characters. Gideon is a young girl with soulful eyes who also has leukemia. Earl is a homeless man who is cruel to those around him and attempts to forget his past.
These two characters meet when Gideon volunteers with her parents at the mission and decides Earl is her project. Her mission is to make him smile.
When her first attempt doesn’t work, Gideon is discouraged but decides to try even harder. She works for her neighbor to earn enough money to buy Earl a Christmas present.
Gideon doesn’t know how the small red pair of gloves she gives him will eventually change both of their lives.
I don’t want to spoil the end for you, but the barely cheesy finish to the book is swallowed up in good writing and sympathetic characters. At 143 pages, it doesn’t seem like enough to establish a meaningful story and develop well-rounded characters, but Kingsbury succeeds beyond measure.
“The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey,” by Susan Wojciechowski
For those of you with children, this is a must-read Christmas bedtime story. For those of you who don’t have children, read it anyway.
“The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey” is a children’s book I grew up with, and one I plan to read to my own children. My mom and my sister still cry every time we read it.
Jonathan Toomey is a grumpy widower carpenter who hates Christmas. A widow and her son, who recently moved to town, come into his shop one December day to have a Nativity scene carved to replace the one lost in their move.
Her son is interested in carving and Jonathan allows him to sit and watch every day while he carves a new piece, as long as he promises to be quiet. Like other little boys, the young boy cannot stay quiet for long and soon pipes up to tell Jonathan what he is doing wrong and how the pieces should look.
The boy eventually warms Jonathan’s bitter heart, and the story ends with him enjoying life again.
Though the story is short and simple, the message is sweet, and the illustrations make everything worth it. The pages are beautiful, and the illustrator really captured the characters’ personalities in his paintings.
Anyone who has an appreciation for the Nativity and great artwork will love this book as much as I do.
So there you have it. If you haven’t felt the holiday spirit enough yet, these two books can fill the void and warm your insides. Hot cocoa might do that better, but cuddle up on the couch with both and I promise you can’t go wrong.
– Kellyn is the features editor for The Utah Statesman, and a senior majoring in English with an emphasis in literary studies. She loves reading both her Kindle and paperback novels. Feedback can be sent to kellyn.neumann@aggiemail.usu.edu