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An Inconvenient Christmas
It's Christmas Eve and the Winstead family is on its way to Grandpa's house for a traditional Christmas. A last-minute letter in the mail, an unexpected snowstorm, car trouble, and a fire all add up to make an inconvenient Christmas for the Winsteads. However, stripped of material encumbrances, the family learns about the true spirit of Christmas.
- GenresChristmasPicture Books
40 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 2004
5 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 2, 2021
A lengthy picture book story about a family who suffers first a shipping issue with their Christmas presents, then car trouble, then a fire at Grandpas that results in a less than ideal Christmas which prompts Grandpa to tell the kids about the first very inconvenient Christmas.
The elements of this story solidly land it in a very specific time period in history thanks to the new state of the art DVD player, a 2001 Jeep Cherokee, and the gifts the kids want/get for Christmas. I think it would've been better for them to publish this as a short chapter book aimed at middle grades. The language is pretty flowery, the vocabulary is high, and the length is quite long for a picture book (several spreads with nothing but 2 columns of text on both pages). I had issues with Grandpa's retelling of the Christmas story, it seemed to be more based on popular accounts than the actual Bible stories. (He tells of the use of a donkey for travel like it is fact and perpetuates the story of the wisemen showing up when Jesus is a baby, rather than a toddler which is more likely from a careful reading of Matthew 2.) I appreciate what the heart of the story is trying to convey, but I don't think kids today would get half of it, or the real target audience of middle graders would even pick it up. Evidently this is based on a country Christmas song, which seems very fitting what with all the tragedy.
Notes on content: The dad tells the kids to shut up at one point after the girl says it in a slang 'wow' way. No sexual content. The fire burns a house down but doesn't injury any people.
The elements of this story solidly land it in a very specific time period in history thanks to the new state of the art DVD player, a 2001 Jeep Cherokee, and the gifts the kids want/get for Christmas. I think it would've been better for them to publish this as a short chapter book aimed at middle grades. The language is pretty flowery, the vocabulary is high, and the length is quite long for a picture book (several spreads with nothing but 2 columns of text on both pages). I had issues with Grandpa's retelling of the Christmas story, it seemed to be more based on popular accounts than the actual Bible stories. (He tells of the use of a donkey for travel like it is fact and perpetuates the story of the wisemen showing up when Jesus is a baby, rather than a toddler which is more likely from a careful reading of Matthew 2.) I appreciate what the heart of the story is trying to convey, but I don't think kids today would get half of it, or the real target audience of middle graders would even pick it up. Evidently this is based on a country Christmas song, which seems very fitting what with all the tragedy.
Notes on content: The dad tells the kids to shut up at one point after the girl says it in a slang 'wow' way. No sexual content. The fire burns a house down but doesn't injury any people.
December 1, 2021
It's Christmas Eve and just about everything goes wrong for the Winsteads, starting with gifts not arriving in time, their car breaking down causing travel delays, and a fire. The kids call it an inconvenient Christmas, only to have grandpa tell them what the real inconvenient Christmas story was.
This book was just ok. Nothing particularly surprising. It was a fair attempt at trying to share the original Christmas story of Jesus.
This book was just ok. Nothing particularly surprising. It was a fair attempt at trying to share the original Christmas story of Jesus.
February 27, 2024
Excellent story and beautiful illustrations.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews