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    The Twenty-four Days Before Christmas: An Austin Family Story
    Unavailable
    The Twenty-four Days Before Christmas: An Austin Family Story
    Unavailable
    The Twenty-four Days Before Christmas: An Austin Family Story
    Ebook79 pages52 minutes

    The Twenty-four Days Before Christmas: An Austin Family Story

    By Madeleine L'Engle and Jill Weber

    4/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    Madeleine L'Engle's beloved Austin family stars in a cozy Christmas story, "The Twenty-four Days Before Christmas."

    Vicky Austin's family does one special thing each day of December to prepare for Christmas. This year, they're also preparing for the birth of a new brother or sister, due after the New Year. Vicky is worried that the baby will come early—what kind of Christmas Eve would it be without Mother to help them hang up stockings and sing everyone to sleep with carols? This classic story of an old-fashioned Christmas is accompanied by merry illustrations by Jill Weber.

    This special eBook edition includes bonus content not available in the print edition:

    · Christmas in New York essay by Madeleine L'Engle

    · Reproductions of 7 unique L'Engle family Christmas cards created and illustrated by Madeleine L'Engle· First chapter of the Newbery Award–winning A Wrinkle in Time

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMacmillan Publishers
    Release dateNov 4, 2011
    ISBN9781429945646
    Unavailable
    The Twenty-four Days Before Christmas: An Austin Family Story
    Author

    Madeleine L'Engle

    Madeleine L'Engle (1918-2007) was the Newbery Medal-winning author of more than 60 books, including the much-loved A Wrinkle in Time. Born in 1918, L'Engle grew up in New York City, Switzerland, South Carolina and Massachusetts. Her father was a reporter and her mother had studied to be a pianist, and their house was always full of musicians and theater people. L'Engle graduated cum laude from Smith College, then returned to New York to work in the theater. While touring with a play, she wrote her first book, The Small Rain, originally published in 1945. She met her future husband, Hugh Franklin, when they both appeared in The Cherry Orchard. Upon becoming Mrs. Franklin, L'Engle gave up the stage in favor of the typewriter. In the years her three children were growing up, she wrote four more novels. Hugh Franklin temporarily retired from the theater, and the family moved to western Connecticut and for ten years ran a general store. Her book Meet the Austins, an American Library Association Notable Children's Book of 1960, was based on this experience. Her science fantasy classic A Wrinkle in Time was awarded the 1963 Newbery Medal. Two companion novels, A Wind in the Door and A Swiftly Tilting Planet (a Newbery Honor book), complete what has come to be known as The Time Trilogy, a series that continues to grow in popularity with a new generation of readers. Her 1980 book A Ring of Endless Light won the Newbery Honor. L'Engle passed away in 2007 in Litchfield, Connecticut.

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    Reviews for The Twenty-four Days Before Christmas

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    • 4/5
      Vicky Austin is excited for Christmas, especially since she is playing the angel in the nativity play, but worries that her new baby brother or sister will come early and cause her mother to spend Christmas in the hospital mar her joy over the season.This is a brief, simple story that will be best appreciated by fans of books about the Austins. I've always been fonder of Kairos (the Murry family) than Chronos (the Austin family), but any L'Engle is good. The holiday details in this story exude coziness, making it a pleasant diversion for a winter afternoon.
    • 4/5
      This sweet short story (only 48 pages) with beautiful spot illustrations may hold more appeal for the adults who grew up with Vicky Austin and her family than for most of today's kids, but it will find an audience with middle graders looking for a nostalgic glimpse into one family's Christmas traditions.
    • 4/5
      This is a quiet and sweet look at a young family preparing for Christmas. Vicky tells about their advent and the activities they do and how she learns to be the Christmas angel for their Christmas Eve pageant. This story focuses on the purpose of Christmas without ever "saying it out loud" which makes it an especially lovely Christmas book
    • 4/5
      I hadn't bothered to find Madeleine L'Engle's books for young children before, but now that I'm making a real effort to read the series in chronological order I decided to give them a go. Withe such an obviously Christmas title, I decided to wait for Christmas Eve to read this one and I'm glad I did.It's wonderful to spend Christmas chasing the ghost of Christmas past, but at the same time it means that all of the traditional elements that make up Christmas are missing. The twenty-four days before Christmas doesn't have a lot too it but it's full of comforting family tradition (not to mention beautiful illustrations) and has provided me, not only with an insight into early Austin family life, but with a lovely link to Christmas.And this year, Madeleine L'Engle isn't here to celebrate...
    • 5/5
      This is one of my favorite Christmas books. I discovered it a couple of years ago and have read it at Christmas every year since then. In the story the Austin Family does something special every day until Christmas. I start the first day of December and read one of the Austin's days every day. Some days are only a half sentence long and some days are a couple pages. We are always happy when it is a long day, because it is such a great story.