A heartwarming holiday story from Audrey Couloumbis, the Newbery Honor–winning author of *Getting Near to Baby.* With beautiful writing and an endearing young narrator so honest and full of hope that you can't help but fall in love with him, Audrey Couloumbis tells a story, of a young boy and the grandfather that he’s just getting to know, that will make readers laugh and cry and, most of all, appreciate the gift of family.
It's a few days before Christmas when ten-year-old Jake's mom breaks her leg, ending up in the hospital. For as long as Jake can remember, it's been just him and his mom. So with no one else to look after him, the hospital contacts the gruff granddad that Jake only knows through awkward twice-a-year phone calls. When Granddad shows up, he's nothing like Jake expected. And he brings a dog with him—a nightmare dog, Jake thinks at first. But as Jake gets to know his grandfather and a makeshift family of friends and neighbors comes together around him and his mom, he realizes that this might not be such a bad Christmas after all.
After his widowed mother falls in an icy parking lot, breaks her leg, and is hospitalized, 10-year-old Jake is scared, even though he gets a lot of support from his caring Baltimore neighbors and from his ex–U.S. Marine grandfather, who, along with his old dog, Max, visits for the first time from North Carolina to help out. True to Jake’s viewpoint, the spare, first-person narrative is filled with immediate dialogue and small details that eloquently reveal Jake’s worry about his mother (and his guilt when he forgets to worry), as well as his wariness of strange, tough-love Grandpa and his crabby pet. Jake confronts Grandpa: Why didnt you ever come visit us? By the end, though, he bonds with both Grandpa and Max, and the story’s warm climax is a cozy Christmas party in Mom’s hospital ward with caring friends and neighbors. Never message-heavy, the drama about the meaning of family will touch readers. Grades 3-6. --Hazel Rochman
Description:
A heartwarming holiday story from Audrey Couloumbis, the Newbery Honor–winning author of *Getting Near to Baby.* With beautiful writing and an endearing young narrator so honest and full of hope that you can't help but fall in love with him, Audrey Couloumbis tells a story, of a young boy and the grandfather that he’s just getting to know, that will make readers laugh and cry and, most of all, appreciate the gift of family.
It's a few days before Christmas when ten-year-old Jake's mom breaks her leg, ending up in the hospital. For as long as Jake can remember, it's been just him and his mom. So with no one else to look after him, the hospital contacts the gruff granddad that Jake only knows through awkward twice-a-year phone calls. When Granddad shows up, he's nothing like Jake expected. And he brings a dog with him—a nightmare dog, Jake thinks at first. But as Jake gets to know his grandfather and a makeshift family of friends and neighbors comes together around him and his mom, he realizes that this might not be such a bad Christmas after all.
*From the Hardcover edition.*
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### From School Library Journal
Gr 3-5–When 10-year-old Jake's mom slips on ice and breaks her leg a few days before Christmas, her hospital stay necessitates a holiday visit from the boy's paternal grandfather. Jake hasn't seen him and has barely spoken to him since Jake's dad died years earlier, and at first he is wary of Granddad and his unlikable little dog. The story of how they all come to appreciate one another is a simple one, relying on interesting characters and a young narrator who, perhaps because he has been raised among strong women, is punctilious about reporting his feelings and reactions to events, even when he doesn't really understand them. No high drama or overwrought emotions here, just some folks–and a dog–coming together as a family. Jake tells his story in a straightforward and often funny way that will resonate with young readers well beyond the holiday season.*Eva Mitnick, Los Angeles Public Library*
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### From Booklist
After his widowed mother falls in an icy parking lot, breaks her leg, and is hospitalized, 10-year-old Jake is scared, even though he gets a lot of support from his caring Baltimore neighbors and from his ex–U.S. Marine grandfather, who, along with his old dog, Max, visits for the first time from North Carolina to help out. True to Jake’s viewpoint, the spare, first-person narrative is filled with immediate dialogue and small details that eloquently reveal Jake’s worry about his mother (and his guilt when he forgets to worry), as well as his wariness of strange, tough-love Grandpa and his crabby pet. Jake confronts Grandpa: Why didnt you ever come visit us? By the end, though, he bonds with both Grandpa and Max, and the story’s warm climax is a cozy Christmas party in Mom’s hospital ward with caring friends and neighbors. Never message-heavy, the drama about the meaning of family will touch readers. Grades 3-6. --Hazel Rochman