Silver Packages: An Appalachian Christmas Story

by Cynthia Rylant, Chris K. Soentpiet (Illustrator)

In this story of expectation and the transforming power of kindness, Frankie, an Appalachian boy, waits beside the train tracks for the Christmas train, which brings presents to children, in the hopes of receiving one very special gift.

Genres: Christmas, Picture Books, Childrens, Holiday, Historical Fiction, Fiction, Realistic Fiction

32 pages, Library Binding

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

An author of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry for children and young adults as well as an author and author/illustrator of picture books for children, Cynthia Rylant is recognized as a gifted writer who has contributed memorably to several genres of juvenile literature. A prolific author who often bases her works on her own background, especially on her childhood in the West Virginia mountains, she is the creator of contemporary novels and historical fiction for young adults, middle-grade fiction and fantasy, lyrical prose poems, beginning readers, collections of short stories, volumes of poetry and verse, books of prayers and blessings, two autobiographies, and a biography of three well-known children's writers; several volumes of the author's fiction and picture books are published in series, including the popular "Henry and Mudge" easy readers about a small boy and his very large dog.

Rylant is perhaps most well known as a novelist. Characteristically, she portrays introspective, compassionate young people who live in rural settings or in small towns and who tend to be set apart from their peers.

from bookrags.com

Reviews

[Foxytocin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sweet and thoughtful story that addresses several important issues quite well: want vs need, the significance of giving with no strings attached, introspection....all very adult issues but portrayed in a way that thoughtful children will understand. This is the sort of book that when shared with our children, launches all sorts of conversations we should all probably have with our kids....some questions easier to answer than others.
It's also a tear-jerker for those adults who understand all too well. Poignant.

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

(The devil in me wants to begin with The Lonely Island.

"Well, you know it's Christmas, and my heart is open wide...One: Cut a hole in a box"
Stop it devil. I'm resisting you. Think of the children, Jen.)


This is not a bad book. I read it alone and liked it. It's a Christmas story of giving, receiving, and social responsibility. And that's not bad. There are a lot of stories with lessons in them that are done pretty well (My personal fave is The Lorax). Anyhow, I like this one okay, and this book resonates if the person reading the book wants to be reminded about giving, receiving, and social responsibility. The illustrations are not bad either. And plenty of readers look for books just like this at Christmas. And that is kind of what bothers me about this book.

I have a not-so-sugarplum vision that ruins a story like this for me (and possibly others). In this vision, a misty-eyed adult community leader who is not a constant reader but just loves this children's book (it just blesses my heart and I know it can bless others!!!) is tasked with squeezing a treacly (thank you DK for keeping this word fresh in my mind) reading of this book into a 30 minute "look at us and our wonderful community reading" time slot- right before pictures with Santa.

The vision has literacy as this golden goose- prized, precious and rare. The goose is so rare that the violent must take it by force and rape it into reproduction so that there might be literate peoples and significant literacy events everywhere. So this captured goose of an idea is brought out and many people ooh and aah over this worthy caged bird. The place is packed, it is Christmas, the time of community and smiling, of taking pictures with cellphone cameras of overdressed children sticky with candy cane. The story, (a touching one in its beginning that now has become, well, you decide...
http://www.dickensoncounty.net/santat....)
based on a real Santa Train begins and the reader tries to hammer home the moral lesson (Look children! Stay still and listen to the story! Not all get lots of presents on Christmas! Some boys and girls have nothing! See this boy? He is kind and grateful but also sad! This is reading! This is awareness! Pay attention! Isn't reading fun? Recognize the value of the golden goose before you!).

But the children don't like the story. It is long and they can't focus and they are sitting next to other children they don't know. They know the grown-ups see a goose and they do too but for them it is not golden. It is trapped, like they are, criss-crossed applesauced. They are tired, the tags on their velvety Christmas outfits itch, and they are sweaty and just trying to keep from mauling the weepy reading adult so that they can see Santa and tell him what the hell they want. This vision scares me. The Santa Train website link scares me. The whole idea of the golden goose given to community organizers to trot out scares me. And yet this book isn't bad, it's a solid three point five on my (admittedly very arbitrary) scale. I'm worried that this book, this perfectly fine book will attract the right reader with all the best intentions carried out in all the wrong ways. And carrying this book out as a nice Christmas story to force feed new readers might ruin this story and ruin the right readers' best intentions entirely.

[Heather · Rating 1 out of 5]

I've been meaning to read this.
How exciting: a train going by delivering presents.
It was a little hard to read the words on the second page, with the car.
-his car just took itself right over the side of a ridge, and the man slumped in that card hurting and scared.' This could have been worded better.
It says they didn't know who saved him, Mr. Crookshank or Betty Pritt. Then it shows a woman taking care of him. The drawings aren't great. The woman looks a little mad.
So because he was taken care of and nursed after the wreck, he repayed them by having the Christmas Train come to the mountains every December and throw presents to the children.
'And for some, it will be the only present they receive.' That's sweet.
It's weird how everyone is waiting on one side of the tracks and Frankie is standing on the other by himself.
I found this too dramatic: 'but he is determined to wait, even if his feet and all the rest of him become ice.'
I like the excitement of the train coming, some mothers are crying.
I didn't know he wanted a specific present. What are the chances of getting a doctor kit?
I was annoyed that he was so out of breath he couldn't yell thankyou to the 'rich man' after he got his gift. He did wave, though so that was nice.
I wonder how long the 'rich man' has been doing this? He can't do it forever.
I feel for Frankie when he opened the gift on Christmas morning and didn't get what he was hoping. It turned out to be a cowboy holster & three pairs of red socks. 'Frankie looks at his mother and father and brothers and sisters and tried not to cry.'
It's good he had socks though. That's practical.
The ppl are ugly and not realistic. It's heavy.
I see where this is going. He's waiting for the train the next year, and this time his hands are cold.
I didn't like how I turned the page and saw him with a police car, so I already knew he got that. He does get mittens.
For the next three years he gets trucks, balls and games, mittens, socks and hats and scarves.
Whoa! I turn the page and it's a middle aged man. I hate time jumps like this! He moved away, out of he hills. He looks back and remembers how his feet were freezing and he received socks, his hands were freezing and he got mittens. His throat was getting blasted by the wind and he got a scarf. His ears were cold and he got a hat.
It's weird how each year a different body part was cold. Wouldn't they all have been cold, each year?
How old is grown up anyway? How old is he?!?
'& Frankie remembers something about owing a debt.' Wow.
So he remembered the story.
It said his brothers and sisters still lived there and were waiting for him. How old are they?
I'm surprised to see the 'rich man' on the back of the train in his blue coat with his silver package. Frankie is a grown man, how old is this guy?
'& he nearly runs after the train, so strong are his memories. This grown man nearly runs after a silver package.' Aw, that's sweet. He's remembering the little child in him.
He sees a little girl trip while trying to get her packages so he goes running to her.
He wipes off her tears, although idk why she's crying. She got a present and only tripped in the snow. At least she got a present. It seems like he only throws one off.
This little girl looks sickly.
'He had meant to wave to the rich man. But there wasn't time.' OMG!
-"you'll be all right," he tells her. "I'll make sure."
He pulls open his kit to look for a band-aid.
"Name's frank." He smiles. "I'm a doctor."
I had seen a doctors bag when the girl tripped so I figured he was a doctor. But I guess kids might not notice that.
This was supposed to be this big thing. The story coming full circle. But it didn't feel that way.
I thought when he said owe a debt, he would go talk to the rich man and explain how he helped him, and how his gifts kept him warm as a kid. Or team up with him and help pass out presents.
I did not think he'd get to the train, see a girl that just so happens to trip, go help her and then offer her a bandaid that I'm not sure how she needed, because she tripped in the snow,& then forget all about thanking/helping the guy who helped him as a kid.
The girl tripping was a whole setup for frank to announce he was a doctor. It veered away from the original story. & robbed us of a true ending.
It also didn't fit the description. It said he learned the true meaning of Christmas. I thought he'd realize that Christmas isn't about gifts. After reading, you'd think he realize it's not about things you want but things you need. But he only realized that the man had given him things he'd needed each year as he needed them. Then he announced all hero-like that he's a doctor.
Ooh wouldn't it have been nice for frank to tell the rich man how he'd helped him, and for frank to join him in handing out presents to the kids, and then take over for him some day?
Idk what they're talking about saying he wasn't Santa Claus, because this guy seems immortal.
There really wasn't a moral to the story.
It showed me why I had planned to read this first among the books I got. It didn't fit the description or what I thought this story would be.

[Wilted · Rating 3 out of 5]

My mother used to cry at this book. This seemed, at the time, to be the result of some mysterious and alien disease only contracted by those over the age of twenty-one. Not one to question the rituals of the adult world (which was probably responsible for some terribly stunted growth on my part, I'm sure), I never looked past the Christmas card pictures at the story.

I was not an illiterate child. There was nothing I liked more than a good story, but let's face it. My mother would have gotten more appreciation for this book out of the toaster, for all I understood it. Oh, the story got through to me. It just failed to resonate emotionally. How was I supposed to appreciate the acts of kindness in the Appalachians, or even understand the reasons behind the delivery of the titular packages? Consider for a moment the classic Snowy Day. Peter sets out from home, mostly banal things happen. But it's there: it's presented almost magically, in a way which children understand. When Peter's snow melts, it's a moment of genuine dismay. The triumphs and struggles in Silver Packages barely crossed my mind. It's one thing to read a child a story. It's another to have it mean something to them. The main character's dream of becoming a doctor is straightforward enough, but few children consider the obstacles he faces. If he wants to be a doctor when he grows up, won't he? A child does not imagine the hardships involved, the challenges. A children's book shouldn't be touching because of external influences. It should speak to the child, and that is Silvers Packages' greatest fault. The Polar Express has much more in the way of an intriguing, straightforward Christmas story.

Considering the fact that the thing I most vividly remember about this book is the brilliant silver wrappings which were so keenly illustrated, I would have probably been more stimulated by an hour with some aluminum foil.

[Sheather · Rating 5 out of 5]

After a wealthy man is injured in a car accident in Appalachia, he is nursed back to health by the locals only for them to refuse payment when he is well again. As a thank you, the wealthy man returns on a train every 23rd of December bringing Christmas gifts to the poverty stricken children of the area. One little boy hopes very much for a toy doctor’s kit. He receives other toys as well as warm socks, mittens and a hat throughout the years. The boy returns to the mountains as an adult with his own special gifts to give. Illustrated by Chris K. Soentpiet.

This is a touching and beautiful Christmas story that opens up the ideas of wants versus needs and unconditional giving. Children will appreciate the story of the Santa Train and the gifts it brings to the poor children, but this book really reaches out to adult readers who will really appreciate the giving spirit. The illustrations capture the setting, especially those of the train and how large and full of hope it was to the children. An excellent addition to a holiday bookshelf.

[Gina · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful story based on a true event - the yearly Santa Train in the Appalachian mountains. Legend has it that a rich man who was traveling through the mountains had an accident. The townspeople saved his life, and every year to repay their kindness, he sent out a train full of gifts, and tossed silver packages off the train to the children. One little boy always hoped for a doctor's kit, but never got one. After the little boy grows up, he becomes successful and desires to return to the mountains - as their doctor!

I enjoyed this book! Full of emotion and beautiful illustrations. I highly recommend it!

This book would be good as a Christmas read aloud to grades K-4. Discussion topics could be gratefulness, following your dreams, and provision.

[Jacqueline Patterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first children's book in quite some time that caused me to tear up. The story address so many relevant issues that children living in rural areas, coming from a lower socioeconomic status, will face. Using a Christmas tradition in a small coal town to teach the idea of wanting versus needing is extremely well done. While the beautiful illustrations and Christmas theme will be appealing to children, all of the issues and lessons woven throughout the story will speak to many adults about giving and loving unconditionally. I feel as if this is one of those children's books that many children won't entirely grasp until they grow older, which is beautiful.

I also enjoyed the full circle ending in which the main character returns to his hometown to continue the Christmas tradition and give back to his community. Again, the story reiterates the importance of being proud of where you come from, and its the people who shaped you, not the materialistic items. Even though he never received the doctor's kit he so badly wished for, this didn't stop him from turning his dreams into a reality. It also never made him bitter towards his upbringing. This is the type of story a child will remember forever. Overall, an excellent read for both children and adults.

[Lynne Vanderveen · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I was still teaching, I would read Christmas stories to my high school juniors throughout the month of December. I didn't choose the standards or famous. Instead I used the stories as a way of introducing writers, historical perspective, or some other literary element. This was one of the books I read.

Silver Packages is a story from Appalachia—an area of the country I love and love reading about. It is the story of a special train that came through the valley and young boy growing up wanting a doctor's kit. It is a bittersweet tale that has the elements of a childhood growing up and doing without. It is also a story of dreams that come true but not as you would expect.

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Saccharin lesson in Paying it Forward. I didn't even like Soentpiet's art as much as usual. Why do most Christmas stories have so much sentiment that they can't be enjoyed the rest of the year?

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lovely story that never fails to make my audience gasp with surprise at the end. Tears abound, too. Just perfection.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cynthia Rylant tells a moving story that reminds us of the importance of appreciation and hope. Using her own background of living in West Virginia, Rylant breaks free of the single story about the Appalachian people, telling of their kindness and pride to support a wealthy stranger in a time of need. The wealthy stranger returns every year to repay the gratitude of the community by riding through on the Santa Train, giving silver packages to all children who seek them. The protagonist, Frankie, realizes the power of those silver packages and how they enabled him to achieve his dreams as an adult.
The illustrations spread across the recto and the verso, touching all four corners of the book. These images give depth to the reader, helping us to feel like we are in the Appalachian Valley. The pictures provide an avenue of discussion with younger audiences. They depict the girls all wearing dresses and the boys wearing suspenders, so readers would infer the story was written about an earlier time period. Pairing Silver Packages An Appalachian Christmas Story with a more modern illustration of rural West Virginia would help readers continue to break through the single story while also understanding how a message of a text can transcend time. Also, Silver Packages An Appalachian Christmas Story would be a great book for families to read during the holidays.

[Jesus Sauceda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finding a book about rurality was very difficult. This is because not many books are written through this view. This book gave me a great insight on how small rural areas truly have to live different than us in the town or city. The main plot follows Frankie who waits every Christmas for a special gift. When an elderly rich man has an accident in his town and he nurses back to health, he feels the need to repay the town. Frankie is exemplifying the values of being humble and never wanting more than he needs. I think through this the author is showing how to persevere and make the best of the situation that they are in.

[Andrea · Rating 1 out of 5]

The idea of a Christmas Train in the Appalachian Mountains delivering presents each year was really cool.

The story wasn't told in a warm or inviting way. 

"No one knows why he came up into the hills, by why isn't important."
Then a few lines later: "Some say it was old Mr. Crookshank, but others say it was Betty Pritt. But who came along isn't important either."
If it isn't important, then stop saying it.

There was so much writing on most of the pages. I dreaded reading them. 

A rich man wrecked in the mountains, and someone helped him and nursed him. He tried to pay them but they wouldn't accept it. Apparently he commands a whole train that he brings into the mountains every year to repay that debt. 

It's incredibly stupid of him to expect a doctor's kit, when the old man couldn't possibly know he wants it. And he should have been grateful for getting a present at all. On Christmas morning he found out it was a holster and 3 pairs of socks. He tried not to cry. What a spoiled brat, and for someone who's poor and doesn't get presents, he was especially so. 

The watercolor illustrations weren't working. The people were so ugly it was hard to look at them. His stupid family was back there grinning like fools, with thin, squinted eyes, just looking like idiots.

I couldn't believe the next year he still wanted the kit, went to the tracks hoping for it, getting another free gift and not seeming grateful. His feet are warm though from those socks, which still fit. But his hands are cold. I saw gloves in the future. And what do you know? He got two pairs of mittens. Jeez. 

And him not crying about getting a police car and mittens is supposed to make him grateful I think. It's not.

3 more years pass--terrible sense of timing here--in which he gets trucks, balls, games, hats and scarves. 

Frankie grew into a man, worked in the city but still remembers being given presents he needed for the cold, and he knows he owes a debt. 

It was so ridiculously stupid how he went home, waited for the train, and then watched this dumb girl trip over the package that landed on the ground. Think she's okay, man. All she did was trip in the snow, not get hit by the train.

"the grown man does run now, but not for a train. Not for a rich man in a wool coat. For a little girl."
Ugh. That is trying way too hard. 

And so freaking aggravatingly, he doesn't even get to talk to the old man--who's amazingly still alive--because he has to take care of this waif who fell down in the snow. I bet she's really hurt. He didn't get to even wave at the man. What is up with that? And the first year there he didn't say thanks because he was out of breath. What a great idea that he never shows gratitude. Awesome.
He tells her she'll be alright, he'll make sure. Um, yeah. I think she really is all right. But he's a doctor, so it's a great story...not.

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

A rich man was in an accident in Appalachia and the people cared for him. They refused his offers to pay them. So every year he returns at Christmas time in a Christmas train and drops silver packages for the children do the town...often the only presents they receive. Frankie is a young boy who waits each year for the train to come, always hoping it will have a doctor kit for him. It never does but does have other beloved objects. I love these lines the most, "...just when it seemed his feet would freeze like the snow, a man on a train had brought socks. Just when it seemed his fingers were hardening to ice, the man had brought mittens. Just when the cold wind was cutting sharp as a blade into his throat, the man had brought a scarf. And just when Frankie's ears were numb with red cold, the man had brought a hat." I hope that, in some small way, the things I do impact others around me as this man's gifts impacted Frankie. And that I can help my children to see that it truly is better to give than receive.

[Nikki Clark · Rating 5 out of 5]

My grandmother read this to me every year when I was growing up at Christmas time and when I reread it tonight, I could still hear her voice so it's still pretty magical. This was one of those books that shapes your character.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A story showing how God always provides what we need even more than what we want and yet never forgets our wants as well...krb 12/6/16

Read again this year and loved the book just as much...krb 11/25/19

[Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Selected as Christmas Read Aloud for my 3rd/4th grade students. Introduced story by talking about the real Christmas Train. Students were intrigued and very excited to hear the story. Also talked about how important childhood experiences and memories are, how they shape our future actions.

[Cat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful Christmas story! This was the first time I had ever heard of the Appalachian Christmas Train and was intrigued about it enough to look it up and discover it was real and that 2018 will be it's 76th run!

[Michelle Fournier · Rating 3 out of 5]

2023. Picture books before Christmas. Just ok, though one of my daughters just loves this one.

2024. Christmas Picture Books. I feel like the ending is very awkward, yet all my kids love it and it does make me tear up every time.

[Ryann Lund · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a really wonderful book. I love how the old man helps pay back the people by giving them Christmas presents off the back of the train. And frank gets to be a doctor when he grows up.

[Cindy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful story with a moral, typical of Appalachian folk lore! I loved this book! And, the illustrations are awesome! Highly recommended!

[Michelle Glatt · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite holiday story of all time. I read it to 6th graders every year.

[Abigail · Rating 4 out of 5]

A young Appalachian boy named Frankie hopes every year that the Christmas Train—a train traveling through the coal towns of the region each holiday season, dispensing gifts to the children from a wealthy man once helped by the local people—will bring him a doctor kit. Each year he is disappointed, receiving other toys, as well as warm winter items like socks, mittens hats and scarves. Eventually, many years later, when Frankie is grown and living far away, his memories of the gifts he received, and his own desire to give back, lead him to return to the town of his youth, to become the local doctor...

Originally included in author Cynthia Rylant's 1987 holiday collection, Children of Christmas: Stories for the Season , and then republished in this picture book edition with the artwork of Chris K. Soentpiet, Silver Packages: An Appalachian Christmas Story is an engaging tale that addresses a number of important ideas and themes in an understated but moving way. There are the obvious ones, of course, from gratitude to the idea of giving back, especially when one has benefitted in some way from the generosity of others. But there is also the notion of gifts sometimes not being what we want so much as what we need—a reality we may not perceive until much later in life—or of our heart's desire (in this case, Frankie's attraction to medicine and healing) being something we ourselves must seek, rather than being something which can be given to us. The accompanying artwork here, done in gouache, is lovely, and captures the wintry Appalachian setting well. Recommended to picture-book readers looking for Christmas stories set in Appalachia, or addressing themes of gratitude and giving back to one's community.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book almost twenty years ago, and I don’t hesitate to put it on my “new” list. I had totally forgotten it. It used to bring tears to my eyes at the end back then, and it still does. Silver Packages tells the story of Frankie who was the recipient of a Christmas package each Christmas tossed from a train as it chugged through through the Appalachian Mountains. Frankie desperately wanted a doctor kit, but his gifts always ended up being warm socks, mittens, and the like. The gifts were provided by a rich man in gratitude for a kindness done to him by the Appalachian people many years before. The end of the book, the last page, is the one I can never read without choking up. We see that Frankie, the boy who yearned for a doctor kit, has become a doctor for real. My own father, who had to struggle to finance medical school, was also named Frank. Not only is this a sensitive, beautiful story, but it also provides the opportunity to slip in a talk about want vs. need should you wish to do so. Heartwarming down to your toes!

[Carolynn Spencer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I purchased this beautiful book for my nieces and nephews when it first came out in 1997 and later my brother and sister-in-law gifted a copy back to me. It is an absolute treasure and I could not more highly recommend it. My family has read it annually at Christmas time and loved it for many years. This year, my grown sons read it with me so we could revisit those memories. The story is profound and beautiful, the illustrations are absolutely gorgeous, and the line, "And Frankie remembers something about owing a debt" never ceases to make me cry. I love everything about this book, including the fact that the young Frankie looks exactly like my nephew Ethan (now a father of two) when he was little. I'm including it in my Goodreads library because of its powerful lessons of gratitude and because it is an absolute favorite in our home.

[Joshua Grimes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Silver Packages: An Appalachian Christmas Story by Cynthia Rylant is an excellent read. Illustrator Chris Soentpiet creates matte paintings for each page that really aid in breathing life into the setting and characters. The story acts as a great starting point for classroom discussions about a number of topics, including poverty, empathy, charity, perseverance, and goal-setting. The character of Frankie is a great model that children reading the book can relate to. His epiphany near the end of the story regarding the "silver packages" is also a good starting point for discussion. What we want is not always what we need.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

A rich man had an accident in the Appalachian mountains. The people who took care of him would not accept any money but he knew he owed the people his life. Every 12.23, a train comes up the mountain and the rich man throws out silver packages for each of the kids. One child wants a doctor kit, but year after year he doesn't get it. He does get a toy every year and with it socks, mittens, hats, and scarves. When the little boy grows up he appreciates all the things that were given to him and wants to thank the rich man, but he can't because a child needs help and the little boy is now a doctor.

[Ashley · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story in itself had good intentions and morals but the ending felt too abrupt and the story didn't feel like it came around full circle. Frankie ended up getting presents that he needed at the time as a child rather than the doctor's bag he so desired. These other presents helped him (in their own way) to become the doctor he is today. I thought he was going back home to thank the rich old man who delivers the silver packages from the train and possibly become the next guy who delivers the presents each year as his "debt". Instead it just shows him helping a little girl who fell and stating that she will be okay because he's a doctor, here's your band-aid.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Large, bold, realistic illustrations and a story based on truth make this a wonderful book to read to children at Christmas time. It is the story of a boy living in the Appalachian mountains. A rich man delivers presents from a train each Christmas. The little boy longs for a doctor kit. Instead, he gets toys and clothing items that he really needs desperately. Still as a child he is disappointed not to receive a doctor's kit. When he is grown he appreciates what he received and he goes back to the area to serve as a doctor.

[Julie Biles · Rating 4 out of 5]

The theme of Appalachian poverty is one that draws me. You add the Christmas setting and you have a narrative any reader will be enjoy. Cynthia Rylant is one of my favorites.

My young grandchildren enjoyed this but the time gaps in the story made it difficult for them to follow. There were big jumps from a little boy anxiously awaiting the Christmas Train and a silver package every year to an grown man in a city who decides to return to his Appalachian home. But overall this is a heartwarming story.

The illustrations alone are superior, beautiful and five star!