Christmas Card

by Paul Theroux

Book Overview

Lost in a New England snowstorm, a family is sheltered by a mysterious old man who disappears the next morning, leaving behind a magical "Christmas card." This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0395272041
• ISBN13: 9780395272046
• Release Date: January 1978
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
• Length: 84 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.8" x 8.5"
• Age Range: 4 to 8 years
• Grade Range: Grades 4 to 3

Customer Reviews

My introduction to Paul Theroux

Many years ago on a trip to England I found the Penguin / Puffin version of A Christmas Card in a bookstore and bought it for my children, who were living in Denmark and visiting their grandparents in Maine every other summer. They don't seem to remember the story, but I read it to classes every year at Christmas as a high school English teacher in Denmark and my students loved it as much as I did after they got over the fact that Teacher was reading to them, just like in grade school. It was my introduction to the wonderful world of Paul Theroux. I've since read many (but not all) of his books. I didn't enjoy the more recent novels, but I particularly loved A Kingdom By The Sea, as I, too, have enjoyed walking in England. This is a magical story - about magic and imagination and light and life, which is what Theroux always writes about. Get a copy for your children or grandchildren, but be sure to read it out loud to them, one chapter a day, to spread out the suspense!

VALUE THE GIFT

A few days before Christmas nine-year-old Marcel and his family are driving to their new house--an old farm deep in the snowy woods, then get lost. Luckily they find an old hotel which at first seemed to be closed. Marcel is fascinated by their quaint but kindly host, Pappy, who promises to provide them with directions to their destination the next day. But the man mysteriously disappears, leaving them only an unsigned, unaddressed Christmas card, which has no words--just a curious sketch of the woods. Marcel gradually realizes that this card is a kind of map to their new home, yet it is much more than that. It is a Magic card, which changes to reflect conditions of the real world outside--of time, light and location. Still Marcel experiences alternating fear and peace in the days preceding the Christian holiday, as a result of the card's shifting hints. The family of four is confused by the mysterious fire glowing in the old cabin; did they just stumble upon a meeting and inadvertantly drive the people away? Secular and sacred connotations combine to make a fascinating, enjoy-in-one-sitting read. Will Marcel ever see his beloved Pappy again--just who and what is he anyway? A literary chiaroscuro where the Light combats the Darkness and a young boy tries to choose the right path and make the best "trade."