With every turn of a page, adventure unfolds to create memories that will last a lifetime.

    "Peter Spier proves that a picture can be worth a thousand words".--School Library Journal. Full color.

    Its affectionate, wacky, and wryly realistic portrayal of an American family’s typical Christmas joys and travails in small-town Depression-era Indiana has entered our imagination and our hearts with a force equal to It’s a Wonderful Life and Miracle on 34th Street.This edition of A Christmas Story gathers together in one hilarious volume the gems of autobiographical humor that Jean Shepherd drew upon to create this enduring film. Here is young Ralphie Parker’s shocking discovery that his decoder ring is really a device to promote Ovaltine; his mother and father’s pitched battle over the fate of a lascivious leg lamp; the unleashed and unnerving savagery of Ralphie’s duel in the show with the odious bullies Scut Farkas and Grover Dill; and, most crucially, Ralphie’s unstoppable campaign to get Santa—or anyone else—to give him a Red Ryder carbine action 200-shot range model air rifle. Who cares that the whole adult world is telling him, “You’ll shoot your eye out, kid”?The pieces that comprise A Christmas Story, previously published in the larger collections In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash and Wanda Hickey’s Night of Golden Memories, coalesce in a magical fashion to become an irresistible piece of Americana, quite the equal of the film in its ability to warm the heart and tickle the funny bone.From the Hardcover edition.

    As he grows older, explanations for many beloved Christmas traditions are woven into the story as the true spirit of Christmas is revealed.

    Three wise men of the East, having seen a new star symbolizing the birth of a great king, follow the star to Bethlehem where they present gifts to the newborn Jesus.

    Monson shared the story "Christmas Gifts, Christmas Blessings" as a powerful reminder that it is more important to give than to receive. As we remember this insight during our Christmas season, we will find that Christmas gifts we share truly do become blessings in our lives as well.

    Nick is a jolly, twinkly-eyed mountain man named Sainty. He drives a buckboard pulled swiftly through the sky by eight plump, friendly black bears.

    When Santy's reindeer abandon their job in the midst of a Texas storm, he enlists the help of two lonely cowpokes so that he can finish his Christmas Eve rounds.

    A collection of medieval and Renaissance carols, traditional carols and hymns, and modern selections is accompanied by masterworks of sculpture and painting by Giotto, Raphael, Durer, Van Eyck, and others

    Nicholas."

    An African child is told several stories about the moon but still he feels has not learned the truth.

    Royalties from this book go to the Quidenham Children's Hospice.