A Newbery Christmas: Fourteen Stories of Christmas by Newbery Award-Winning Authors

by Martin H. Greenberg (Editor), Charles G. Waugh (Editor)

Christmastime and the Newbery Medal seem an almost irresistable combination. For what better time than Christmas, that most family-oriented of holidays, to read stories written by authors honored as winners of the John Newbery Medal for their contribution for literature for children? This collection comprises stories by authors today's children know and love, from E.L. Kongsburg and Nancy Willard to Beverly Cleary. It also contain stories by writers familiar to their parents and, perhaps, to their grandparents, from Ruth Sawyer and Rachel Field to Lois Lenski, Eleanor Estes, and Madeleine L'Engle.

Some of these stories are humorous. Childen will laugh at the antics of Ramona Quimby in "Ramona, the Sheep Suit, and the Three Wise Persons" and at Eliot Miles's Christmas wish in E.L. Kongsburg's "Eliot Miles Does Not Wish You a Merry Christmas Because..." Others of the collection recall the christmases of years past, as in "Once in the Year" by Elizabeth Yates and "The Hundred Dresses" by Eleanor Estes. And others, like Madeleine L'Engle's "A Full House," remind us again of the true meaning of Christmas.

This is a collection to savor and to read aloud. It's a book that can be read by the fire, on the beach, in the car on the way to Grandmother's house, or on any available lap. Most of all, it's a book for sharing and for celebrating the joys of Christmas.

A portion of the royalties from this book will be donated to the American Library Association, administrators of the John Newbery Medal.

Introduction / Carol-Lynn Rossel Waugh --
Babouscka / Carolyn Sherwin Bailey --
The hundred dresses / Eleanor Estes --
A letter from Santa Claus / Eleanor Estes --
Eliot Miles does not wish you a Merry Christmas because ... / E.L. Konigsburg --
A full house / Madeleine L'Engle --
Once in the year / Elizabeth Yates --
The merry history of a Christmas pie / Nancy Willard --
The Christmas fake / Lois Lenski --
Woodrow Kennington works practically a miracle / Katherine Paterson --
All through the night / Rachel Field --
The Christmas apple / Ruth Sawyer --
A candle for St. Bridget / Ruth Sawyer --
The galloping sleigh / Hugh Lofting --
Ramona, the sheep suit, and the three wise persons / Beverly Cleary --
About the authors --
About the editors

Genres: Christmas, Childrens, Short Stories, Fiction, Classics, Holiday, Young Adult

208 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1991

About the author

Martin Harry Greenberg was an American academic and speculative fiction anthologist. In all, he compiled 1,298 anthologies and commissioned over 8,200 original short stories. He founded Tekno Books, a packager of more than 2000 published books. In addition, he was a co-founder of the Sci-Fi Channel.

For the 1950s anthologist and publisher of Gnome Press, see Martin Greenberg.

Reviews

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed most of these 14 stories and spent some time trying to find the sources of each to annotate my copy. Note: many of these stories are more appropriate for older readers. Be careful if giving or reading this to elementary aged children, especially if they believe in Santa.

I have Estes' "The Hundred Dresses" and "The Middle Moffat" (source of "A Letter From Santa"). I also have a copy of Yates' "Once In the Year" which I love, and "Ramona and Her Father" which Cleary's story was taken from.

I really liked "The Christmas Apple" and "A Candle For St. Bridget" by Ruth Sawyer, and hope to read more from her Christmas story collections ("This Way to Christmas", "The Long Christmas"). I'd also like to find "A Stubborn Sweetness and Other Stories For the Christmas Season" by Katherine Paterson after reading her contribution, "Woodrow Kennington Works Practically a Miracle."

Though a bit more YA than middle grade level, I also really liked "A Full House", an Austin Family story (5.6) by Madeline L'Engle, who I'd like to read more of.

[Nancy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Being familiar with the writings of a lot of the authors featured in this book, I felt confident in the quality of these stories. However, many if not most were quite odd, and I found myself thinking "what in the world?!"

[Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a lovely collection of short stories and excerpts from novels written for children by early 20th-century American writers. They were lovely, old-fashioned, and charming and would make a good read-aloud during the Christmas season.

[Asho · Rating 3 out of 5]

I checked this out of the library thinking that it might be nice to read some of the stories aloud to my 5-year-old. Then I ended up getting sick the week before Christmas and we didn't get in as much reading time as we normally do, so I mostly ended up reading this to myself on Christmas Eve and Christmas.
That ended up being a good thing, as the majority of these stories are a little conceptually advanced for my son. We did read the Ramona Quimby story together, and that was an interesting experience. I loved Beverly Cleary's Ramona so much as a kid, but I think this story wasn't the best introduction for a 5-year-old. It held his interest, but I had forgotten that Ramona's father is attempting to give up smoking cigarettes. In a sign of how much times have changed, a plotline that didn't faze me at all as a kid was quite disturbing for my 5-year-old. He just really disliked the idea of a dad smoking cigarettes and couldn't understand why a daddy would be doing something so "bad". Mr. Quimby is also out of work and looking for a job, something else my son found more distressing than I would have expected. So! Lesson learned, re-read the classics of your childhood BEFORE sharing them with your kids so that you are prepared with explanations. On the bright side, we had a good laugh together about Ramona's antics during the pageant.
As for the other stories here, many of them are from Newberry winners of long ago and I wasn't familiar with all of the authors. Overall I thought it was a nice collection, although quite a few of the tales were more melancholy than purely uplifting. Whether intentional or not, there was an overall theme of people (typically children) experiencing a Christmas event as a bright spot in what is overall a troubled life. Lots of scraping together your last pennies for a tree, sacrificing for another person who has even less than you do, that sort of thing. I wouldn't say this is exactly a happy, joyful collection.
A couple of different stories spoil the Santa magic, so beware of that if reading this together as a family. I think I'd recommend this as reading material for age 8/9 and up. I'm fairly certain that some of these stories would have bored my 5-year-old.

[Brandee Shafer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was displayed in the children's section of our county library, and I read it aloud to my daughters, ages six and seven. The stories aren't necessarily Newberry Award-winning stories, but they were written by Newberry Award-winning authors. I find this distinction important not so much because the stories aren't necessarily award-winning (Obviously, these authors write beautifully!) as because they aren't necessarily children's stories. My suggested age ranges for these stories would vary wildly.

My daughters are accustomed to listening for long periods of time to books that have no illustrations, but some of the content was a bit beyond them. In Madeleine L'Engle's story, for example, a young woman who used to be a family's favorite babysitter comes to their home pregnant, and her explanation of how she got that way is pretty frank. A couple stories contain mild Santa spoilers. Ruth Sawyer's "A Candle for St. Bridget" is probably my favorite, personally, but it was complicated enough in terms of both content and language that I just summarized it briefly for the girls. Other stories in the book contain such advanced language that I needed to almost "translate" as I read, making different word choices so the girls could understand.

Ultimately, I rate this book a "4" for myself and a "3" for my girls. I recommend it to adults who love Christmas stories. Read the book for and to yourself, first; then decide which stories to share with the children in your lives. My girls were already familiar with the Beverly Cleary story at the end, and I think it will be a long time before we forget Wanda Petronski from Eleanor Estes's "The Hundred Dresses"; I treasured our conversation about it, also about Sawyer's "The Christmas Apple," which was the girls' favorite.

[Donna Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great read-aloud book once your child has a pretty strong working vocabulary and attention span (no pictures, just text). For my family, a large group of bibliophiles for whom the bedtime story became especially marvelous in December, this is a treasure trove.

Our family (not religious) nevertheless favor the story about the little girl who regresses when a new baby comes to the family, and how her older brother rescues her. All December long, our conversations are peppered with "Don't be stoopid, Whoo-drow."

Also be warned, if any of your children still believe in Santa, be careful of your selections. You may want to pre-read the stories before reading them aloud.

[Don LaFountaine · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a nice collection of stories centered around Christmas. Some are better than others, but none of them left me with an immense sense of joy that one would expect when finishing a Christmas Collection.

[Shaunterria · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a pretty good compilation of Christmas stories written by Newbery authors. Not all were that engaging or notable, but a few standouts helped keep the collection readable.

[Christine · Rating 2 out of 5]

A few good stories, but these are not the works for which these authors were awarded the Newbery Medal, that's for sure.

[Kate Boehmke · Rating 3 out of 5]

A few of the stories were excellent, others not so much.

[Greg Kerestan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I couldn't tell you when it was that I read this book for the first or last time, but I had it as a treasured hardcover as a child, given to me one Christmas Eve by my Aunt Linda and Uncle Butch. We always had Christmas Eve at their house back then- dinner upstairs in the kitchen and dining room, and then games and presents and fun downstairs in the finished basement (how mysterious to elementary-age me: a FINISHED BASEMENT). Though the title of the book long escaped me, I remembered the "Merry History of a Christmas Pie" and can still quote many of its lines. Thus, a Christmas memory forgotten lives on.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fourteen stories about Christmas by past Newbery Award winners. Some selections are excepts from books while others are reprinted short stories. This collection was published in 1991 so the copyrights for these selections are between 1916 - 1991 and range from the humorous to the sentimental. They reflect a different time period. God, prayer and church are mentioned frequently, but not in every story. Overall, a fascinating and charming collection of stories for readers who appreciate the history of children's literature.

[Denise Spicer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fourteen stories by such award-winning authors as Madeleine L’Engle, Elizabeth Yates, Eleanor Estes, Lois Lenski, Hugh Lofting, Beverly Cleary. A couple of these stories were cute, even touching, but most are fairly mediocre, especially considering they were written by such eminent writers. This compilation might be of interest to modern day 10-12 year olds, but might not. And for adult readers, it is fairly ho-hum.

[Barbara · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hmm.. maybe 2.5 stars. A curious collection! I was familiar with many of the award winning authors, some from my childhood, and remember their books w/ fondness. Some better than others, but some of these stories are either odd and/or melancholy. *Recommend reading reviews before reading to children.

[Terzah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another good collection for Christmas, and this one you can read to kids. My favorite story was the one by Hugh Lofting, author of "Doctor Doolittle," who imagined a magical incident in the childhood of composer George Handel.

[Dominique King]

Fun and quick read for the holiday season.
I'd heard of most of the authors, so it was fun to see some of their earliest award winners through out the years.
Many stories very dated, so I'm not sure it would appeal to a lot of today's kids, but as an artifact of nostalgia, it was fine.

[Amanda Russell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gentle and sweet…this collection of childrens’ Christmas stories made me happy. I was familiar with “Ramona, the Sheep Suit, and the Three Wise Persons” (always fun to revisit Ramona) and “The Hundred Dresses” but all of the others were new to me.

[Carson hall · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too much religion. You would think that an editor named Greenberg would chose more secular stories.

[Alyce · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining. Nothing exceptional. Short stories are good for pregnancy brain. 😊

[Sandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this years ago and thought it was time again. I love Christmas stories and these did not disappoint.

[Brenda · Rating 5 out of 5]

So many really great selections by wonderful, Newbery Award-winning authors.

[Anastasia Tuckness · Rating 3 out of 5]

Contains Christmas chapters from well-beloved books. Nice collection; would be a great read-aloud for families who enjoy classics.

[Julie Barrett · Rating 4 out of 5]

g read

[Diana Eberhardt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice selection of older stories.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s a tradition to read this every year at Christmas time. Each year another story stands out for me. This year it was A Letter From Santa Claus. Adorable. 🥰🎄🎅🏼

[Capn · Rating 1 out of 5]

(Can't be safely read to children who still believe in Santa - so I ask you, WHAT IS THE POINT? Newbery Medallists are CHILDREN'S LIT authors! This makes no sense! See "*" below for the offending stories)

In this volume, briefly, we have:

a short and not very interestingly-told Russian folktale;

a story about bullying an impoverished Polish immigrant girl and the associated remorse of a guilty conscious (The Hundred Dresses. Not really Christmassy at all);

*a tale of a forged apology note on behalf of Santa Claus from an older (wiser) sibling to pre-emptively soften (another) pending disappointment (no happy ending, either! I guess it's implied that Santa came to her in a dream to tell her to write a note on his behalf, but that was hardly convincing, and, I fear, this story would only sow seeds of serious doubt);

a stupid Christmas wish;

teenage pregnancy, State Troopers, orphans and unexpected Christmas guests (Madeleine L'Engle - this was not too bad, just oddly placed);

a story that says all farm animals retell the birth of Christ once a year at midnight on Christmas Eve;

quite possibly the WORST POEM I HAVE EVER, EVER READ, about the talking ingredients of Christmas soup and pie, courtesy Nancy Willard;

*a meagre and mean red-neck Floridian Christmas in the swamp (Lois Lenski. Not terrible, but, again, "SANTA IS A FAKE!", and this assertion is not later disavowed);

a story about a 5 year old falling prey to televangelists as she worries about a new baby displacing her;

a dog and other animals in the stable in Bethlehem, including insects;

a Catholic statue-related miracle in medieval Germany and a selfless clockmaker;

literally starving Irish families in Donegal and equally destitute and desperate Irish-Americans;

a story of a bereaved mother, crazed with grief, and the subsequent attempted infanticide of the young Handel as an act of vengeance;

and then Ramona Quimby being, well, Ramona, and giving everyone grief over her sheep costume for the Nativity Play. (I did rather enjoy this last one)

The two * stories render this book useless to read to children who still believe in Santa!!!! SO WHAT IS THE POINT OF IT?!

Frankly, if you scrapped all but Madeleine L'Engle's, Beverly Cleary, and maybe Katherine Paterson and Eleanor Estes' contributions, it could carry.

Similarly, if you bundled the Russian folktale, the two Germanic ones, the Irish stuff and the two about the animals in the famous manger, that could work as a volume.

But they threw them altogether, higglety-pigglety, with the others, and called it a volume.

That Nancy Willard "poem" (roll-call?!) is SO AWFUL that I can't even bring myself to quote it. It's called, "The Merry History of a Christmas Pie", and woe betide the poor, curious fool who tracks it down online. A real clunker. Really - it's HORRENDOUS. It just makes me angry.

This book will be used as a coaster on the sofa for the remainder of December.

I would also like to point out that I bought this used online. It had previously belonged to the White County Regional Library of Searcy, Arkansas. It looked as if it had never been completely read (the book automatically opens to the Ramona story, and the spine creaked and cracked like a new book as I read through the others). This should have been my first clue. Instead, I assumed there weren't many avid readers in Searcy. Perhaps it's the opposite - they knew what to avoid. ;)

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I completely was enthralled with most of the stories in this collection of Christmas stories written by a variety of Newberry Medal winners of the past. I also enjoyed reading their short biographies at the end of the book as well.

My favorite stories were "The Hundred Dresses", "A Full House", "Once in the Year", "A Candle for St. Bridget" and "Ramona and the Three Wise Persons", "All Through the Night".

Which one is yours?

[Nikki · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fine collection of Christmas stories from Newbery Award-winning authors. Selections range from the early years of the Newberies to more recent authors like Beverly Cleary. (As this book was published in the early 90s, perhaps it's time for a sequel!) In fact, given the low price for which you can now obtain a used copy (and the only slightly higher price for a new one), this book would be worth buying if only for Cleary's classic, "Ramona, the Sheep Suit, and the Three Wise Persons." Very highly recommended for anyone with children or grandchildren, probably 5 and up.

[Diane · Rating 4 out of 5]

wonderful book of stories by Newberry award winning authors. a little uneven, but the best ones are wonderful. I particularly liked "The Christmas Apple", "All Through the Night", "Once in the Year," and "Ramona, the Sheep Suit and the three Wise Persons...." (in the last story, the three boys backed out as three wise men, so the teacher designated three girls to be "Three Wise Persons."

[Vikki · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Newbery Christmas certainly satisfied my need for a good Christmas book. I must have one every Christmas season and this was this years! Included in this book are fourteen stories selected by Martin Greenberg and Charles Waugh. They were good, clean, childrens Christmas stories. I enjoyed every one and all of these authors.