Book Review: Christmas After All

A book in Scholastic's Dear America series, Christmas After All: The Great Depression Diary of Minnie Swift by Kathryn Lasky is the heartwarming story of an endearing family coping with the adversity of the Great Depression.

A book in Scholastic's Dear America series, Christmas After All: The Great Depression Diary of Minnie Swift by Kathryn Lasky is the heartwarming story of an endearing family coping with the adversity of the Great Depression. The story is told through the diary of Minerva Swift, youngest of four sisters and the second-youngest child in her family. If you can suspend your disbelief that an eleven-year-old would write an average of five pages of flawless prose every day between Thanksgiving and Christmas, you are in for a treat.

The Swifts live in Indianapolis in 1932. Although they are struggling less than most families (some of whom we glimpse both in the Swifts' neighborhood and in the shantytowns), they do have to adjust their lifestyle -- their menus, their purchases, their activities. As Minnie astutely observes, "I think that there has never been such a collision between realness and fantasy. It is as if we are standing with our feet in the muck and grime of these hard times but our noses are pressed up against the window of some fantastically glamorous world."

Indeed, the juxtaposition of reality and fantasy pervades the book. People gather around the radio to listen to Jack Benny, Buck Rogers, or The Shadow; they go to the movies that provide an inexpensive, though temporary, escape from their troubles. They look for some magic to change the conditions of their existence. Willie Faye, an orphaned cousin who comes from the Dust Bowl of Texas to live with the Swifts, looks to faith rather than to magic for the change. (Despite this -- and the fact that the book deals with the month leading up to Christmas -- Christmas After All is not a religious book. It should be appropriate for use in a public school classroom.)

In Christmas After All we see a family showing optimism in the face of hardship, humor in the face of fear. Family members must determine when frivolities become necessities -- and they show great resourcefulness in making gifts and fashioning new clothes. Christmas After All gives a vivid picture of life during the Great Depression, and it holds lessons for all of us -- especially during our challenging economic times.

About the Author

A parent and former teacher, Fran Hamilton is the author of Hands-On English, which gives quick access to English fundamentals and uses icons for parts of speech (for anyone 9 years or older, including adults). Fran also publishes LinguaPhile (a free monthly e-mail newsletter for people who teach and/or enjoy English) and Acu-Write (a free weekly e-mail tip sheet for people who want to improve their writing of English). Both are available through Yahoo Groups.

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