Available:*
Library | Call Number | Status |
|---|---|---|
Searching... Dallas Public Library | LARGE PRINT - EVANS | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Library | YA FIC EVA | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Silver Falls Library | LP FIC EVANS | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
Whatever the reason, I find that with each passing Christmas the story of the Christmas Box is told less and needed more. So I record it now for all future generations to accept or dismiss as seems them good. As for me, I believe. And it is, after all, my story. So begins The Christmas Box, the touching story of a widow and the young family who moves in with her. Together they discover the first gift of Christmas and learn what Christmas is really all about. The Christmas Box is a Christmas story unlike any other.
Author Notes
Richard Paul Evans was born in Salt Lake City, Utah on October 11, 1962. He received a B.A. degree from the University of Utah in 1984. In 1992 while he was an advertising executive, he wrote a story about parental love and the meaning of Christmas for his daughters. The story, The Christmas Box, was copied and passed around to relatives and friends, and was published. It was adapted as an Emmy-winning television movie in 1995 starring Richard Thomas and Maureen O'Hara.
His other fiction works include The Locket, A Perfect Day, Promise Me, Lost December, A Winter Dream, A Step of Faith, and The Mistletoe Promise. His series include the Christmas Box series, The Walk series, and the Michael Vey series. He also writes non-fiction works including The Christmas Box Miracle: My Spiritual Journey of Destiny, Healing, and Hope; The Five Lessons a Millionaire Taught Me about Life and Wealth; The Five Lessons a Millionaire Taught Me for Women; and The Four Doors: A Guide to Joy, Freedom and a Meaningful Life. He has won several awards for his books including Romantic Times best women's novel for The Sunflower.
He is also a public speaker, traveling the country to bring awareness of the problem of neglected and abused children. In 1997, he used his Christmas Box Foundation to begin a shelter for abused and neglected children called the Christmas Box House.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (2)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Self-published in paperback during the Christmas season 1994, Evans's first novel quickly gained national media attention. Now the cleverly told tale, which the author reputedly wrote for his daughters and which revels in sentimentality, is available in hardcover. The story relates how a young couple, Richard (who narrates) and Keri, accept a position to care for a lonely widow, Mary Parkin, in her spacious Victorian mansion. As Christmas draws near, Mary becomes anxious about Richard's obsession with success and his failure to make time for his family. She urges him to reconsider his priorities, but he is always too busy to heed her advice. It is only when Mary is on her deathbed and her secret sorrow is revealed through the letter-laden Christmas box of the title that Richard realizes what she has been trying to tell him. The message concerns love, of course, and the strings Evans pulls to vivify it should squeeze sobs from even the stoniest of hearts. It's notable, however, that unlike many well-known Christmas tales (such as Dickens's), which carry that message in a basically nonsectarian manner, this is steeped in specific Christian imagery and belief as the author draws on the drama of Jesus as God's sacrifice for the world's sins, and of his crucifixion and resurrection. 750,000 first printing; BOMC, QPB, BOMC Homestyle Book Club, BOMC Craft Books Club, BOMC Children's Book Club alternates; simultaneous S & S audio and S & S Libros En Espanol edition; author tour. (Nov.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
This reverent little domestic tale, originally self-published, gets its second holiday chance to wring out tears and ring up sales. A Utah businessman named Richard (he's in formal wear rental), his wife Keri, and four-year-old daughter Jenna become a second family to Mary, an aging widow who lets them live rent-free in her big old Victorian mansion if they'll cook for her and help out around the house. Kind and sweet Mary, though, has secrets in her past, which workaholic Richard gradually becomes aware of in spite of his absorbingly busy pre-holiday schedule at the storewith the help of recurring angel-dreams and nighttime strains of music from the attic. When Mary is diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor and begins to die, things move more swiftly toward a Christmas Day conclusion that will offend some, amuse others, and doubtless, as it apparently did its first time around the block, move many to new tears of piety. Those who may wish, meanwhile, can find stylistic enjoyment as well, in such phrasings, say, as: `` `This should be interesting,' I decided''; ``Jenna smiled hungrily''; `` `There's bound to be a lot of history in a place like this,' he said thoughtfully''; or in these words of a kindly physician: ``I know that's not very reassuring, but it's reality.'' (First printing of 750,000; Book-of-the-Month/Quality paper alternate selection)