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 Review by
Marlene Perry
Patricia Polacco uses her own family
tree to tell the story of her great-uncle Frankie Stowell and his
family one Christmas in the early 1900s.
Polacco's illustrations will impress
you from the very first page -- not elaborately drawn, but sketchy,
colorful and with lots of action. The snow scenes swirl with cold
wind and will make you feel like shivering. The warmth of this story
comes from the interactions of the large family of nine children.
The Stowells don't have a lot of material wealth, but they share
anything they have with each other and particularly with the hobos
traveling on the trains that make a stop each day near their home.
These lessons of sharing what you
have with others begin the story. While his mother and siblings are
busy feeding men from the train, 10-year-old Frankie secretly gives
his new sweater to a hobo who is suffering from the cold weather.
It is a few days before Christmas
and the entire family is awaiting the return of their father, who
has taken a horse and wagon to Lansing to get the family's
traditional holiday gift of an orange for each child. This is quite
a treat because the oranges have come all the way to Michigan on the
Florida train. With the winter weather holding up Pa's return, the
family carries on, preparing to celebrate Christmas. They hitch up a
horse and set out to cut a tree and gather greens to decorate their
mantelpiece.
When Pa joyously returns home with
the oranges for his children, it appears that this will be another
perfect Christmas for the Stowell family.
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Despite Pa's warning not to touch the mantel
after the oranges are placed there, Frankie wants to hold his just for a
moment. After all, the oranges represent Pa's safe return through all that
snow. When Frankie suddenly has to slip the orange under his sweater to
keep from being discovered and then runs off to his church Christmas
pageant, the orange is lost in the bustle. Now Frankie has disobeyed his
father, given away his new sweater and lost his precious Christmas orange.
Things are not looking good.
On Christmas Eve, and in tears,
Frankie confesses all this to his mother. "Oh, Ma, I've done a
terrible thing!" he fears. His mother thinks for a minute and
responds, "Frankie, you didn't do a terrible thing. Maybe a
thoughtless thing, taking that orange. But you did a noble thing
too, giving something that meant so much to you to someone who
needed it. That is the true spirit of Christmas, my darling."
What follows this confession is a
group effort that represents the commitment and sacrifices of a
loving family. "An Orange for Frankie" is a warm holiday tale of
family and tradition, and an uplifting lesson is learned in the end.
The author ends her story with a
personal note of how this family story still affects her current
holiday celebrations and how that particular year was always
referred to as "Frankie's Christmas."
To read this and other stories,
visit the Lincoln Public Library at 725 Pekin St. or call (217)
732-5732.
[Marlene
Perry, Lincoln Public
Library District] |
