What Child is This?: A Christmas Story

by Caroline B. Cooney Narrated by Ed Sala

Overview

Christmas is coming and everyone around 16-year-old Liz Kitchell is busy with preparations. The big houses in her neighborhood are shimmering inside and out with luxurious decorations. And her parents are trying to impress all their friends with extravagant parties and expensive gifts. But Liz feels empty inside. In her English class, her group has to write a composition: How do you get what you want for Christmas? While Liz and her classmates write jokes, she wonders-what is the real reason for the celebration? As Liz begins to reach out to others who are hurting, she discovers the true joy of the season. Best-selling author for young adults, Caroline B. Cooney pens a memorable story about a modern Christmas miracle. Ed Sala's heartwarming narration will inspire you to believe in the power of love and hope for the impossible.

Editorial Reviews

School Library Journal

Gr 5-10A heart-tugging story with an upbeat ending, told in alternating chapters by the young people involved. Eight-year-old Katie, an emotionally starved foster child, writes a wish on a paper bell that will be hung on a Christmas tree in a local restaurant. There, members of the community can choose a request and give a gift to a needy child. However, Katie doesn't ask for toys or clothingshe wishes for a family. Although the social worker says her request is inappropriate, Matt, a high school student who lives in the same foster home and works in the restaurant, hangs the bell on the tree. Liz, Matt's classmate, is upset when her uncaring father reads the wish, calls it ridiculous, and tears up the bell. Meanwhile, Liz's older sister struggles with her grief over the recent death of her baby. When Matt tells Katie on Christmas Eve that her wish will not come true, the devastated girl runs out into a blizzard, setting off a chain of events that brings about a resolution befitting a holiday tale. Showing her flair for adolescent angst, Cooney allows the characters to speak for themselves, eventually weaving their lives together into a fitting climax. A moving, fast paced novel, sure to appeal to Cooney's fans.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940170995080
Publisher:	Recorded Books, LLC
Publication date:	01/17/2014
Edition description:	Unabridged

Read an Excerpt

It's Christmas, the season of miracles, joy, and hope.  Is that spirit strong enough to bring about the impossible?

"Katie, age 8, wants a family." Katie 's Christmas wish is perfectly simple.  And perfectly impossible.  Katie lives in a foster home with fifteen-year-old Matt, another foster child who is so frozen that the warmth of Christmas can't even begin to thaw him.


A family, thought Katie.  You'd sit on their laps, and their hugs would last and last.

Not hugs like social workers gave: quick as grades.

Hugs like mothers gave: wrapping-you-up hugs.

Hugs like father gave: hoisting-you-into-the-air and tossing-you-around hugs.

Being a foster kid was like living in a blender.  Life was always flinging you against sharp blades.

But amazingly, as Christmas approached, Matt was suddenly willing to help Katie with spelling and arithmetic.  Matt was silent but mean; mean from years of no family...and Matt helped her.

She wondered if he would let her walk with him part of the way to the restaurant when he went to work tonight.  Sometimes he did, and sometimes he would let her stop and talk about the pretty decorations people had.  Once, he had held her hand.

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