Ten-year-old Erkki Seppala, the son of Finnish immigrants, loved Christmas. Wishing for the best Christmas ever on his way home one December day, he was dismayed to discover that his oldest brother Matti, who served on a granite barge operating between Cape Ann and Boston, was missing, along with his entire ship. This cast quite a pall over his large, close-knit family, and for a time it seemed that it might ruin Christmas. Erkki however, determined to carry on as Matti would want, had the idea of creating Christmas gifts for the rest of the family, in lieu of the ones that his brother would always bring home. In the process he gained some insight into various family members, and learned an important lesson about the pleasure that planning for and giving to others can bring. In the end, Erkki's loving thoughtfulness, and the return of Matti at the last minute, ensured that this was indeed the best Christmas ever...

Originally published in 1949, and illustrated by the marvelous Barbara Cooney, Lee Kingman's The Best Christmas is a truly delightful holiday read. The large and loving Seppala family come alive on the page, as does Erkki, with his love of Christmas and his desire to create some holiday magic for the rest of his family, in a difficult time. I found the story here wonderfully well-written, and had to stop from time to time to reread certain passages, to savor their sensitive depiction of the characters' lives, and to savor their pathos. When his worried mother takes one of her young children on her lap, she is described as rocking him as if "she were trying to keep all children, big and small, safe in her arms." When Erkki's father comes home one evening, the entire family "looked up and asked the same question without even saying it out loud. Father just shook his head." I was surprised at the beauty and perceptiveness of the writing here, given that the only other title I had ever read from Kingman - 1943's Pierre Pidgeon, which won illustrator Arnold Edwin Bare a Caldecott Honor in 1944 - struck me as fairly unremarkable, textually speaking. Apparently Kingman based the Seppala family on her husband's, so perhaps that lent her narrative a certain power. Or perhaps Pierre Pidgeon just wasn't her best book. Whatever the case may be, I was both entertained and moved by The Best Christmas, finding it both well-written and emotionally resonant. I also greatly appreciated the artwork contributed by Cooney. Every page had some decoration, whether large or small, and they greatly enhanced the reading experience. All in all, a wonderful book - one of my rare five-star titles! ( )

The best Christmas by Lee Kingman
Erky is not sure why he's so happy with Christmas coming.
Cold winds and cold air with sky dark with one star. Reminds him of the star on his tree, he hopes for the best one ever.
Baking, decorations throughout the house but he knows something is wrong when he enters the house. Stone barge is late and Matty is not there.
Love the idea of mittens on Christmas morning with dime in each and candy cane. Mother says it's too much trouble to get a tree, especially with Matty not home.
She tells them what Christmas is all about and starts up her knitting, she's got the spirit again.
Matty always brought bigger gifts home...maybe he can make the bigger gifts for the kids this year....
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device). ( )

The story is mundane but the illustrations are gorgeous ( )