When Mother Was Eleven-Foot-Four: A Christmas Memory

by Jerry Camery-Hoggatt

Book Overview

This beautifully written holiday memoir follows the tradition of The Christmas Box and The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. It\u2019s the story of the author\u2019s mother, whose romantic nature and love for Christmas left a lifelong impression on her son.Mother is a tiny woman-4\u201911\u2019\u2019-except when life demands that she draw herself up to her full height of 11\u20194\u2019\u2019. Christmas is one of those times. Father is opposed to celebrating Christmas, and every year the couple fights about it. And every year Jerry and the other kids eavesdrop nervously until their mother ensures that Christmas wins out. When things take a turn for the worst, Mother and the boys find themselves struggling with poverty and depressed circumstances. Mother tries to make the best of Christmas at first, but when she loses the holiday spirit, her young sons decide to do something about it. In their attempt, they discover the true meaning of grace.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0800717899
• ISBN13: 9780800717896
• Release Date: January 2002
• Publisher: Fleming H. Revell Company
• Length: 96 Pages
• Weight: 0.47 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.2" x 7.3"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

A beautifully illustrated Christmas story

When Mother Was Eleven-Foot-Four: A Christmas Memory is a picturebook set in the 1960s about the true meaning of Christmas. Written from the perspective of a young boy whose 4' 11' mother feels "Eleven-Foot-Four" on the inside, When Mother Was Eleven-Foot-Four tells of the drastic changes in his life that shrank his family - his uncle and cousins moved away, his older siblings grew up, and his father left the family, leaving his mother to take care of just him and his two siblings. Money becomes tight, and for the first time, he sees his mother cry on Christmas. Resolving never to let this happen again, he and his siblings work together to raise money and have a truly wonderful Christmas the following year; all of them learn together what it's like to feel "Eleven-Foot-Four" on the inside. When Mother Was Eleven-Foot-Four has Christian themes and references, but first and foremost it is a beautifully illustrated Christmas story, ideal for young readers who are almost ready to crack open their first chapter book.

Destined to be a classic

When Mother...is destined to stand along side Christmas classics such as Welcome Comfort and The Polar Express. Beautifully illustrated, the story is at once heartbreaking and uplifting. Read it out loud to your children this Christmas!

Heartwarming Christmas Story

A very good Christmas story. Short but worth the read. Actually, I wish there had been more to the book.

Story of love and hope

"When Mother was Eleven-foot-four" is a beautifully crafted story of love and hope in the face of opposition. This poignant memoir tells the story of a mother's gift to her son. It is a story about becoming "a little larger on the inside" and standing eleven-foot-four. This Christmas tale is a reminder of joy and faith amid sacrifice, tears, and loss.The flowing narrative style of the book, infused with both the innocence of a child and the gentle wisdom of later years, is reminiscent of the writings of Ralph Moody and such holiday classics as the Christmas Box.The author, Jerry Camery-Hoggatt, invites the reader to experience a time, not where things were simpler, but rather where the beauty and grace of living can overcome all obstacles. The author reminds the reader that Christmas is the celebration of a gift given to the entire world; it cannot be reduced to a business transaction or lost in the tide of commercialization.Camery-Hoggatt relates how his mother struggled each year to bring the spirit of Christmas to her children despite the disapproval of her husband. His mother believed that the "freedom to do something extravagant is the closest human beings ever come to understanding what God must feel when He is being gracious."When circumstances caused his mother's faith in romanticism and the spirit of Christmas to fade, the author and his young brothers endeavored to set things right. Camery-Hoggatt's moving realization of the true meaning of gift giving is a moment that should make this book a holiday tradition.