This sweet Christmas story is one of my favorites! An orphan girl is the very last child left at the orphanage on Christmas Eve and is put on a train to go spend Christmas with someone unknown. She misses her stop and gets off in a town decorated for Christmas. It’s snowing and very cold and she has nowhere to go. Loved it. Made into a holiday special and I enjoyed it so much.

It was ok. I liked the illustrations the most. The story was a bit weak and a little creepy. This girl pretty much runs away from an orphanage to find her non-existent grandmother in a town that she's not even sure really exists. So she's wandering around in the cold looking for a house with a tree and no children. And... the lady, her "grandmother", buys a tree and everything and then decides that they need children in the house. I mean... it's a loose story at best but the idea was in the right place.

I always read Christmas fiction around the holiday and this year decided to read some children's books to change it up a bit. I would give this closer to a 3.5. It's a longer book for a child. The illustrations were spot on. I also found myself wondering if this was the basis for a "Toy Story". Was originally published in 1957 in Ladies Home Journal and then published as a book in 1958. It centers around an orphan girl named Ivy who is wishing for a doll and a family for Christmas. The doll named Holly is in the local store and the toys all talk to one another after hours and yearn to come to life by the touch of a childs hands. Sweet and very appropriate for the holidays.

I'm not sure what to think of this. It is not written for a woman to read for herself, like I did. It is for children who like hearing about toys having adventures. I guess. It fell flat for me because I've become too aware of how overdone this theme is. How the antagonist is only there as an enemy. How the troubles seem to begin almost artificially. And so they wrap up artificially. I like Rumer Godden and have read many of her books. This one just sort of bothered me for some reason. I feel like if my children were small, this is one they wouldn't have liked, but I can't put my finger on it in any useful way. Good thing nobody reads my reviews, lol!

This is another in our holiday pile of picture books that we read each year in December to prepare for Christmas. I'm thinking I might magically disappear it one of these years, because when they unwrap it each year I groan a little inside. The girls seem to enjoy it, even though we have to read it over the course of several days.
It's long for a picture book, and rambly, and kind of weird. An orphan girl travels on a train to a random village, where she wanders around looking for her fictitious grandmother; a bunch of dolls and toys in a shop are waiting to be chosen for Christmas, including a mean grumpy owl; a lonely childless lady prepares for guests (a child?) that she always wanted but doesn't have. Circumstances collide, the lady buys the doll, the girls finds the house, and they all live together happily.

This is a must-read for us every Christmas season. It is a heartwarming, magical story about dreams and wishes and it never fails to capture our children's imaginations. Barbara Cooney's lovely illustrations are also a plus!

This was my absolute favorite Christmas book when I was a little girl, yet somehow I managed to forget that it existed for the 10 years that I've been a mother.

Tonight I read it to my children for the very first time, and it did not disappoint. Yes, it's sappy and far-fetched. I don't care. A beautiful doll, a lonely little girl, a magic but malevolent toy owl... I love it all.

Such a sweet Christmas read aloud. I remember having this book as a kid. I think it probably appeals more to girls (my boys couldn't get into the importance of having a new doll), but my boys still enjoyed it. Abracadabra made it more appealing to them. Ha! I love the pictures and the old fashioned feel.

An absolutely perfect little story. Orphans, dolls, picturesque villages and Christmas miracles, how could you go wrong? I am adding it to my basket of Christmas books that I drag out every December and put away about a month later. (It's fun to have some you only read once a year.) And how cool to find something at 50 I would have equally (I'm sure) enjoyed at five, not to mention dorky 15.
Okay. Back to a book with more than 30 pages.

I love to read Christmas stories especially children's books . This was a very charming one. I borrowed it from the library but plan to buy my own copy.

Recommended

3.5⭐️

An unrealistic, yet cute Christmas story of a holiday doll in a toy shop window, an spunky orphaned girl and a family yearning for a child.

great book! a book about wishing and a girl and a doll. ivy is an orphan who was sure she had a grandmother and goes to find one.


i do not no whether the song the holly and the ivy is related to the story but when i hear the song i think of the book:)

this is a great christmas story!