What was this book about?
For a long time Eddie was the average boy. He had a happy life with both his parents. While they weren’t wealthy – they had enough to put food on the table, buy his clothes, and enough for a few surprise extras. When Eddie’s father dies that all changes. His mother works multiple jobs just for enough money to keep him fed and clothed.
For any 12 year old boy this is a lot to handle. He wants to be like his friends and have new things. He doesn’t understand what is happening and why his life isn’t fair.
When Christmas comes the one thing he wants more than anything is a bike. He thinks he has been good, he prays to God for it. It means it must be coming – right? When instead he is greeted on Christmas morning by a sweater – for him it is the last straw. The decisions he makes that day affect the rest of his life. How can he find solace in the life that was given to him? Can he make his peace with God when he feels he has been so short changed?
What did you think about the book?
What grown up doesn’t look back on their life as a teenager and go – wow – I was a big pain in the butt. My poor parents. It isn’t that you aren’t a good kid. It is that you are a normal child – self-involved. You think of things revolving around you. How you didn’t get what you wanted for Christmas. How you want to spend more time with your friends. How you wish you had someone elses’ life. And inevitably that self-involvement leads you to hurt those that you love the most.
For me that is what a lot of this book was about. Someone was hurting. Bad things happen. You need something to help you through the hard times. For this character – it isn’t until he turns to God that he finds a way through the storm that life has dealt him.
For me this book is less about Christmas (though it does play a part) and more about how you treat others. It is about facing the good and the bad and doing what you can to get through. I think what I actually liked best was the ending where Glenn Beck talks about where the story “came from” in his mind. It isn’t a true story – but it has its roots in the truth of his life and that brings it all together for me.
Special thanks to my mother-in-law who gave me the book for Christmas. She always gives the best titles – that make you think (and sometimes cry).
What genre would you consider this?
Family Dynamics
Overall:
Question for You!
What book did someone give you (or loan) you – is your favorite? Why? Does the person who gives you the book impact your feelings on it?
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