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Summary: A warm and touching story!
Review: Beautiful story telling! The author beatifully writes how an orphan's wish arrives on Christmas day. This story tells so clearly by use of narration and multiple personage dialogues to carry a chronological event and space. The minute I opened the book and read a few lines, I knew I was going to read it in one breath. One may get a bit discouraged by the large amount of litteracy compared to very little illustration (I felt that when I 1st browsed thru the book), but boy, was I glad to have looked past the 1st impression.
Rating:
Summary: A warm and touching story!
Review: Beautiful story telling! The author beatifully writes how an orphan's wish arrives on Christmas day. This story tells so clearly by using a matrix of plots. The minute I opened the book and read a few lines, I knew I was going to read it in one breath. One may get a bit discouraged by the large amount of litteracy compared to very little illustration (I felt that when I 1st browsed thru the book), but boy, was I glad to have looked past the 1st impression.
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Summary: My Favorite Childhood Tearjerker
Review: Even at 39, the end of this story brings me to tears....a sweet and wonderful book that I delight in sharing with my own little girl.
A wonderful holiday story with a very happy ending.
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Summary: This story is what Christmas is all about.
Review: Holly and Ivy was originally published in Ladies Home Journal in the 1950s. My mom clipped the story from the magazine, and read it to me and my sister every Christmas. The lonely little orphan girl Ivy and the doll Holly who wished so much to have a child for Christmas, really touched a chord with us. For me it started a life-long love for Rumer Godden, especially for her doll stories. To fully appreciate the story, you have to hear it read aloud.
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Summary: A Christmas tale for all seasons
Review: Holly is a doll who wants a little girl for Christmas -- it is her fondest wish. Ivy is a little girl who wishes for a grandmother for Christmas. Everyone has left St. Agnes's Orphanage for the holidays and she is lonely, so she decides to find her mythical grandmother. Mrs. Jones feels that Christmas needs children. "Couldn't we have a little girl?" she asks. But Mr. Jones thinks she's daft. Add a sympathetic boy and a villainous toy owl and you have a page-turner. Rumor Godden is the author of many fine and classic books for adults like THIS HOUSE OF BREDE and THE GREENGAGE SUMMER. Her rich and sumptuous writing guides stories full of delightful characters and, in the case of HOLLY AND IVY, little twists to the tale to surprise the reader. If you're shy about reading "kiddie lit" for fun because you're an adult, find a child to read this to. And no matter what age -- teens will love the whimsy in the story as much as smaller children. The illustrator is Barbara Cooney, a Caldecott Medal winner who has illustrated over a hundred books. She has captured the characters, setting and holiday appeal of the story in colorful pictures on every page. Don't wait for Christmas! This is a story -- and a book -- for all seasons.
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Summary: The Story of Holly and Ivy
Review: I first read this story more than 40 years ago, when it was published in a woman's magazine. It made such an impression on me that, decades later, when I found it in book form, I recognized and remembered it immediately. Even now I have a hard time explaining what makes the story so enchanting. Partly it's the secret life of the dolls, sizing up the children who come to the toy store window. But there's more to it than fantasy: in its own way the story is very real. I can almost feel the chill of winter, and the heat of the baker's oven through the walls of the shed. This beautifully written story has become one of my own daughter's favorite Christmas traditions.
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Summary: The best Christmas story I have ever read.
Review: I love this story, it is just so touching. I read it first when I was eight and still love it just the same five years later. It tells the story of Ivy, a young orphan who doesn't want to be transferred to an Infants' Home so gets off at the station where she pretends her grandmother lives. What follows is a touching chain of events, and I have been looking around for a copy of this story. Note: This copy in particular has excellent new paintings and is reecommended highly as well.
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Summary: Christmas of the Heart
Review: The book had me hooked from the beginning and I'm 60 years old! I have a passion for childrens' books and this one tells the story of a orphan and the Christmas she found for herself. I was so moved I even shed a tear or two in parts. Wonderful job on the writing and the illustrations were well done. I would highly recommend this charming tale.
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Summary: A holiday story to warm your heart.
Review: The Story of Holly & Ivy is a book that was read to me by my grandmother every christmas for as long as I can remember. It is now a favorite of my children. An excellent addition to your Christmas book collection, Holly & Ivy is a book about believing in wishes and the magic of the holiday season.
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Summary: --Wishes can come true--
Review: THE STORY OF HOLLY AND IVY is the tale of Ivy a small orphan girl who creates a pretend grandmother and then really tries to find someone who can be that real person for her. She leaves the orphanage at Christmas and is hopeful that her dreams will come true. She also longs for a beautiful doll and sees one in the window of a toy store. The doll's name is Holly and she has also been wishing; however, her wishes are for a little girl who will love her. This book has everything; a toy store filled with wonderful toys that have personalities of their own, including a somewhat sinister owl named Abracadabra. We also meet Mrs. Jones who is lonely for a child and decides to decorate her house for Christmas as if she was expecting a child to visit. Her husband is a policeman who finds Ivy and brings her home. The book is appropriate for children ages 5-10 and I think that most children would love the story. This is a very colorful book with lovely illustrations by Barbara Cooney. The author is Rumer Godden who is one of my favorite writers. Over the last few years, I've been locating any of her books that I can find for my library, including her stories for children. I'm writing reviews in the hope that her beautiful stories will continue to be read.
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