- a family celebrates the Advent season with special daily traditions
- a blizzard makes big changes to their plans, but sweet family times replace them
- convo: the 7-year-old girl calls herself the ugly duckling and has other negative thoughts about her appearance, which is worsened by an overheard conversation between adults
- religious elements: a Christmas pageant focuses on the baby Jesus story, the family sets up a nativity scene, the girl silently prays a few times, the author’s universalistic views do not appear in the story
Type: long picture book
Ages: 5+
Author: Madeleine L’Engle
Illustrator: Joe De Velasco
Written from the perspective of the 7-year-old, readers enjoy an innocent view of life and experience struggles a 7-year-old might deal with. It’s too bad she has been influenced to care so much about her appearance, but after that is dealt with (it does improve), the story is nothing but pleasant.
This is part of a series, but I have yet to read any other Austin Family books by L’Engle. Let me know if you have and what you thought of them!