During the Great Depression, a boy named Jack learns that people long ago shaped cookies into symbols of Christmas and used them to tell others the story of Jesus' birth. Even though Jack and his mother haven't had a single crumb in their cookie jar for a long time, mom decides to use some of their savings to make Christmas cookies for the needy people in their community. Children ages 4-7 will be delighted to discover what happens when Jack uses his own cookie to teach an old homeless man about Christ. Hardcover.

Jack helps his mother bake special Christmas cookies and learns about how people long ago used Christmas cookies to tell others the story of Jesus’ birth. This story inspires families to share this important tradition with others.

Dandi Daley Mackall is the author of over 400 books and still can't believe she gets to write for a living, helping children of all ages grow spiritually. She and her husband, Joe, both write from rural Ohio, where they're blessed with three children and a variety of horses, dogs, and cats. Deborah Chabrian was born in Illinois into a large creative family where holidays were always made special. Her artistic talents have taken her from'The Best Bunny' in kindergarten, to graduating with honors from Parson's School of Design in NYC, to painting 500 book covers and hundreds of still life paintings and winning many awards. She now lives in a 200-year-old farmhouse in rural Connecticut with her artist husband, Ed Martinez; children, Oliver and Gabriella; and miscellaneous cats, hamsters, and fish.

The writing style seen in The Gift of the Christmas Cookie is very different from what is found in previous books written by Dandi Daley Mackall. Typically, Mackall uses rapid-fire, four-lined rhyming poems that come off in staccato fashion not unlike rap music or jump rope cadences.

This time, however, we have an unrhymed, detailed narrative that encompasses history, religion, and a coming-of-age story. Young Jack and his mother are doing their best to make ends meet during the Great Depression. Jack’s father jumps on a freight train to see if he can find work in another town, and it now seems that he won’t be making it back home for Christmas.

To help create a festive mood for the holidays, Jack’s mom pulls together her meager supplies of flour, sugar, and other baking goods and starts making special angel cookies.

As Jack helps pour the dough into the wooden angel molds, his mother tells him that this tradition started in the Middle Ages, when Jack’s father’s ancestors would carve angel molds, make cookies, decorate them with berries and brown sugar and then take them to needy people. As they distributed them, they would tell the story of the angels who announced the birth of the Christ child and how he came to save mankind from its sins. As they finish, Mom announces that she has saved one large cookie just for Jack. He is ecstatic over this news. But then a knock is heard at the door. An unemployed, starving man asks if there is any food he can have. Jack’s mom gives the man some leftover breakfast food from that morning, and the man devours it ravenously. He thanks them and leaves. Suddenly, Jack grabs his cookie, chases the man, hands the cookie to him and says, “It’s yours. And there’s a story that goes with it.” He then witnesses to the man.

Besides being a delightful story filled with Christian virtues of being my brother’s keeper, the book also has phenomenal artwork by Deborah Chabrian. The fresh baked cookies are brown and steamy, making you think you could taste them. The outside snowflakes are crisp and breezy, with winter scenes frigid and sharp. This is surely one of those seasonal books that will not go out of date, but, instead, will be a treat to return to Christmas after Christmas. -- Dr. Dennis E. Hensley, www.ChristianBookPreviews.com

http://www.christianbook.com/christmas-cookie-sharing-meaning-jesus-birth/dandi-mackall/9780310713289/pd/713289

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