"That day, Jonathan went to the Christmas service with the widow McDowell and Thomas. And that day in the churchyard the village children saw Jonathan throw back his head, showing his eyes as clear blue as an August sky, and laugh. No one ever called him
Mr. Gloomy again."
From The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey by Susan Wojciechowski and illustrated by P.J. Lynch.
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The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey is my favorite Christmas book for children of all ages. It was a gift to our son when he was just 7 years old, and it still holds a special place on my shelf. The book was first published in 1995 when our son was only 4 years old. Benjamin's great-grandfather bought him this book and several others in 1998, but my mom picked out the book and wrote inside the front cover so that we would remember who gave it to our little boy. It is a truly beautiful book. It comes with a CD reading so that you can just sit back and enjoy the story of hope, love, joy, and miracles.
One thing that sets this book apart from other children's book is the beautiful illustrations by Lynch, The pictures are so beautiful that you just want to tarry on each page.
The main character of the book is Jonathan Toomey, a sad woodcarver who has been very depressed since the death of his wife and baby. Everyone in the village knows him as a gloomy person who keeps to himself. One day his life slowly begins to change when a widow and her son, Thomas, knock on his door They ask him to carve a nativity set because they lost their set in their recent move. They ask Toomey to complete the set in time for Christmas, but he doesn't make any promises. The three people begin to get acquainted over time, and the heart of Toomey begins to change. As he carefully carves each person and animal who were at the First Christmas, he begins to feel love and joy in his heart. He actually made his Joseph figure to look serious and caring, he made Mary look humble and full of love, and he carved Baby Jesus as a smiling infant who reached up to touch his mother's face. As Mrs. McDowell and Thomas began to visit the woodcarver regularly, his heart slowly changed from a hardened, sad, lonely heart to a person who could enjoy life again. He completed the set by Christmas morning, attended the Christmas service with his new friends, and he felt pure joy for the first time in a very long time. It was truly a Christmas miracle.
This book reminds me that there is always hope, no matter what you're going through. Miracles still happen today, so we shouldn't give up. Many of us are going through some hard times right now, and life is tough. But if there was hope for Jonathan Toomey, there is surely hope for all of us. Personally, I see this as a spiritual transformation in the life of the woodcarver, and I believe that the Baby Jesus is the place we should be looking for our joy, hope, and love.
There are some other Christmas books for children that I would like to recommend. I've enjoyed The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, Small One, The Legend of the Candy Cane, Christmas in the Big Woods, and The Polar Express. For adults I recommend Skipping Christmas, The Christmas Train, and The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. Some of these books are secular-based, while others are focused more on the spiritual meaning of Christmas. I'd love to know if you've read some of these and how you felt about them. I think my adult personal favorite is Christmas Train. Have you read any of these? If so, which ones are your favorites?
In the past month I read Lilac Girls: A Novel and Thomas Jefferson Dreams of Sally Hemmings. Both were amazing books. We had some good discussion at our book club about Lilac Girls which made it more fun for me. The details in this historical novel are right on point. If you look at other websites you will find the historical background of Lilac Girls to be very accurate. Martha Hall Kelly, the author, did a TON of research in order to write this novel based on the lives of women during WW II, most of whom lived in Europe.
I'm currently reading The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II by Denise Kiernan. It's the current book for our club. This is a true story about men and women who were hired to do some sort of secret work in East Tennessee during the war, and their pay was very good. I haven't read enough of the book to make a lot of comments about it, but I'm enjoying it a lot. It was published in 2013 and has been a New York Times Bestseller. I enjoy books about events in our history that somehow were never our radars so we are just now learning about them. There are so, so many great books such as The Boys in the Boat, Unbroken, The Hiding Place, and The Great Bridge: The Epic Story of the Building of the Brooklyn Bridge that inspire us through true events that happened around the world. I'm just now sort of discovering some of these gems that are true stories about extraordinary people who made a difference in the world. Historical novels are great as well. Getting back to The Girls of Atomic City...I've never heard of this story before, so it's a totally new event in history to me. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of it.
I hope you have a peaceful weekend,
Melissa Hill
Book Blogger
www.onegoodbookblog.blogspot.com
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