This is my all time favorite holiday story! It is a timeless classic that never fails to warm the heart. An absolute must read!!

This edition is in a picture book format with illustrations by Barbara Cooney. It's nice but my favorite (and the one I read when I was seven) is in a chapter book binding with illustrations by Adrienne Adams. I scour antique stores for these older copies to add to my collection (is it weird to want multiple copies of the same book?) This is a Christmas story, a story of belonging, a story of loss and finding, a story of family. As a kid reading this book, it captured for me the power of being wanted and loved. My paperback copy that I first read is falling apart...but it still delivers the same delicious feeling of joy.

Favorite quote:

"All day long people were coming in and out of the toy shop. Mr. Blossom and Peter were so busy they could hardly snatch a cup of tea."

Don't you hate days like that? So busy you can hardly snatch a cup of tea? A good day is with a great book and a whole pot of tea! (And maybe some toast and jam to go with it!!)

At our November Book Club Meeting, my friend, Kathy brought this book and recommended it as a great book to read to your children during the holiday season. I borrowed it from her and read it to my two little girls. It took us three nights to get through the whole book. We loved every minute of it. I'm sure this will be one of those books that will become and old favorite for us. It will go in my stack of Christmas books that we read every year during the holiday season.
A truly heartwarming, charming, endearing, enchanting little classic!

One of my favorite authors together with one of my favorite illustrators. Charming, lovely Christmas story and everything turns out just as you hope it would.

A beautiful Christmas story about a doll who needs a person and an orphan who wants a doll.

Although this is a 32 page long picture book, it’s text heavy, so it’s actually a fairly long story for a picture book.

This is my new favorite Christmas story. I’m not big on gooey holiday stories, or holiday stories in general, but I just loved this.

I appreciated how the doll and the six year old girl are both important characters.

This is a sweet story about wishing for and finding a loving home, wishing and finding for both doll and girl.

The illustrations are just lovely. Every detail is wonderful. It’s fun to look at all the toys, but every setting is just wonderful: the orphanage, the train ride, the town, the store, the couple’s home.

This would make an ideal gift book for Christmas, or for any occasion.

This is a book about wishing. About a girl and a doll. About a woman and her husband. About a young boy growing up. This books is filled with all the Christmas warmth and love you could WISH for.

I remember watching the cartoon based off this book when I was a kid ("The Wish that Changed Christmas" - you can find it on YouTube) and absolutely loved it! My feelings for the book are no different and it's probably my favorite Children's Christmas books so far! This book was set in 1950's England in the quaint little country town of Appleton where the market is bustling with joy and cheer and the church bells ring at midnight calling parishioners to a Christmas service. Ivy is a dear, and determined, little girl who gets stranded in Appleton in search of a grandma and finds so much more. I dare you not to be in tears by the end.

There's just something magical and heartwarming about this book. Don't pass up a chance to add this to your library!

A feel good story for this time of year!

A charming story of a girl without a family or a Christmas doll, a Christmas doll without a Christmas girl, and a married couple without a child. As Ivy ventures forth, assured that she will find her grandmother, she encounters Holly, a beautiful and special Christmas doll. Holly has just arrived at the toy store and is eager to find her home as she is a Christmas doll and she fears, thanks to a sinister toy owl, not being sold and stuck in storage. Meanwhile, Mrs. Jones has the impulse to buy Holly even though she has no children and asks her husband, Mr. Jones for a child. Ultimately, everyone finds each other in a sweet happy ending.

The original edition features simple yet lovely illustrations that perfectly accompany this festive and delightful tale.

Barbara Cooney is a wonderful illustrator and she did such a fabulous job with this story. Each page is so enchanting!

Regarding the story, it was definitely sentimental and sweet. I just wish there was a little more moral character portrayed by Ivy, the little orphan girl. I completely understand why she would deceive herself and others into believing she had a grandmother - she did this in order to soften the blow that she had no one to love her at Christmas. But it doesn't make it right.

For me to really love this book, I would not have had Ivy lie and would have worked it some other way to create a chance meeting for her to find someone to love. That truly would have been a beautiful story to applaud.

Ages: 5+

Cleanliness: The little orphan girl lies to herself and to others that she has a grandmother because she doesn't want to be alone at Christmas. She runs away. "Thank goodness," "Well, I'll be danged!," and "Good gracious me!" are said.

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I love this book. One of my favorite Christmas books. I have fond memories of reading it as a child, and having it read to me.

Looks like a picture book but it actually falls somewhere between picture book / chapter book. Read this one aloud to my 12 year old daughter (who still loves for me to read to her - a gift in itself!) and we both loved it. We took our time and spread it over several nights, just to savor the story.

This is a story about wishing - the author says so right from the start - and it's about wishes fulfilled. There's also a toyshop, a wicked owl, a Christmas market, and an implausible but intriguing chain of events.