Do Not Open Until Christmas

by Jean Little

Do Not Open Until Christmas is a collection of Christmas-themed short stories from critically acclaimed children's author Jean Little. From a young boy settling in with a new family complete with new siblings (and a chipmunk and raccoon!) just in time for Christmas to a Dickensian story of Barnardo children trying to settle in to a new home after being rescued from the poverty of living on the dangerous streets of 19th century London, these stories are filled with hope and all of the warm and joyful feelings of the holiday season.

Genres: Christmas

178 pages, Hardcover

First published October 15, 2014

About the author

Jean Little is a Canadian author, born in Taiwan. Her work has mainly consisted of children's literature, but she has also written two autobiographies: Little by Little and Stars Come Out Within. Little has been partially blind since birth as a result of scars on her cornea and is frequently accompanied by a guide dog.

Reviews

[Manybooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Christmas stories often are sweetly celebratory, showing joyful gatherings with friends and family, gifts as well as food galore, splendidly lit Christmas trees, fun experiencing snow in lovely winter wonderlands etc., well, that of course is the case for those of us who have enough food, shelter, warmth and love in our lives and do not have to focus on and face the harsh realities some (and actually many) are forced to endure (various upheavals, divorce, illness, death, extreme poverty, neglect, abuse, all encompassing sadness to name a few painful examples). And yes (and for me also fortunately so), in her 2014 short story collection, Do Not Open Until Christmas beloved Canadian children's author Jean makes the above mentioned realities the main focus of her twelve featured Yuletide themed tales. And yes, although the stories encountered in Do Not Until Christmas have happy enough endings, they do show even with the latter that for many children, Christmas and indeed life in general is often not all sweetness and light, but can be harsh, painfully heart-wrenching, full of obstacles, challenges and the like (with all of the tales featured in Do Not Open Until Christmas clearly set in Canada, mostly in the province of Ontario, with Jean Little's sense of geographic place generally being pretty strong, although that with regard to Little's sense of time, it is sometimes a bit difficult to easily know whether a presented account of Do Not Open Until Christmas is set in the past or in the present, not actually a hugely problematic issue for me, but well, this does sometimes get just just a wee bit frustrating).

So in the twelve tales of Do Not Open Until Christmas, Jean Little thus introduces to her audience (young readers from about the age of nine or so onwards) an expansive roster of children and families with most of them rather desperately requiring a Christmas miracle of some sort (and yes, these scenarios usually occur at the end of the each story, but generally not showing something earth-shattering or exaggeratedly positive and optimistic, but simple and often even rather small happinesses). And just to point out some textual examples, in Gabriel's Angels, after her frustrated and angry father abandons the family and her mother becomes catatonic with apathy, young Gabriel must care for her physically challenged younger brother Michael until food runs out and outside assistance is needed, in A Portable Christmas, children of divorce take matters into their own hands and run away to their great grandfather's farm because they are sick and tired of being shuffled around to attend various family Christmas events, in Without Beth Eliza must take the the lead in the school Christmas pageant when her twin sister, who was the star of the show, dies of meningitis, in Ten Lords a-Leaping, Nine Ladies Dancing a paralysed and generally shy and bookishly introverted girl who must spend Christmas with cousins who see her basically as only a burden, gets to dance in her wheelchair during a Christmas party with a handsome young man who is just as much into reading as Olivia is and sees her potentials and not her limitations, and with the harshest story encountered in Do Not Open Until Christmas and with Scrap (which is probably the harshest story featured in Do Not Open Until Christmas) showing not only an ultimately happy enough but kind of deus ex ending for Scrap after neglect and horrifying abuse but also has Little's words and her storytelling demonstrate that the good intentions of Dr. Barnardo's home child program did not always work out for the positive for the working class children sent from the UK to Canada.

Now I do have to admit that there is somewhat of a lack of character development in Do Not Open Until Christmas, but since Jean Little has penned short stories and not novellas, I personably do not have issues with under-developed characters in Do Not Open Until Christmas and also do not mind that Little uses some heavy-duty messages and occasional didacticism all that much either (since I do in fact agree with these and also with Little's focus on love and that for her Christmas is obviously also kind of a specific place, a place of angels, carols, miracles, unexpected gifts and the promise of comfort even if it sometimes comes in relatively small doses). And yes, I (and in particular my inner child) have really enjoyed Do Not Open Until Christmas and how each story is accessible with emotional, poignant and generally also sweet but not overly saccharine conclusions and as such also rate Jean Little's stories with four nicely and shining stars.

[Sandy Ryerse · Rating 2 out of 5]

Do Not Open Until Christmas by Jean Little is a clean, wholesome collection of Christmas stories that can be enjoyed by both children and adults, though it feels more geared toward adults reading to children rather than kids reading on their own. The stories are pleasant and heart-felt, though not quite heart-warming, and the older narrative style may feel a bit distant for today’s readers.

While the language and storytelling reflect a different era—and at times made the pacing feel slow—I still found it to be a nice, gentle read. It has a sweetness to it, even if it didn’t fully capture my heart. A pleasant choice for the Christmas season, especially if you enjoy classic, old-fashioned storytelling.

Pleasant, gentle, but a bit dated.

[R. G. Nairam · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mostly over-sentimental, but had an uncomfortable adoption one and sometimes sudden and weird turns in the narratives. Not torture to read but just not that good either.

[Debby Baumgartner · Rating 3 out of 5]

12 stories about Christmas about children who overcome an obstacle to have a happy Christmas. For older children.