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Christmas in Canaan

Christmas in Canaan

List Price: $15.99
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Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 2 stars
Summary: I'm Dreamin' of a Black and White Christmas
Review: Reading between the lines, this is clearly the memoir of co author Donald "DJ" Davenport's youth as a young, poor, black bookworm in rural Texas.

It would be intersting to have this story from DJ's perspective alone, without the celebrity PC filter of Rogers. There's a modern classic buried deep in these pages, unfortunately, as it now exists, there's also a lot of ABC After School Specials and Hallmark Hall of Fame weepies and a pinch of Uncle Tom patched in to what is essentially a pretentious, contrived and obvious tale.

Come on DJ, tell us the raw, true story of your black childhood with all the racial and religious elements as they were in rural Texas, and in many places still are.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Much more than the usual celebrity confection
Review: Rogers and Davenport have written a moving contemporary Christmas story that succeeds in evoking many of the traditional, classic Christmas themes - family and extended family, light in a darkened world, generosity independent of wealth and means, as examples - while avoiding the cloying sweetness and predictability of many of their contemporaries - and most celebrities - who write as if a "spoonful of sugar" is all the reader wants or needs. Rogers' fans will be pleased by the generous moral content with which he is often identified in his music and movies, and readers who don't care about celebrity authors will be pleased to find a story which is well-crafted, subtly imagined and deftly written. Like the best of Young Adult fiction, it can be read by teens - and younger children - at one level, but will reward the reader who reads with a more discerning taste. Adults who may be concerned that their children or students are missing the meaning of the holiday which has been so commercialized for so long, will find that this is much more than celebrity confection: it's an enjoyable, thought-provoking holiday book.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great book! First reviewer is WAY off!
Review: This is a great book that does indeed have the feeling and makings of tv movie. I personally know Donald Davenport today and I am positive he did not grow up in rural Texas as a young black child. The dustcover obviously displays an adult WHITE Donald Davenport just as he looks today. The book is a story. Fiction. It is a book idea by Kenny Rogers brought to life by Donald. It is not a recollection of an oppressed mans views of his childhood. Please consider this book in your purchases of a quick read that will make you smile and think!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: good holiday story
Review: This is a story set in a small town in Texas. Rodney and DJ are the main characters. Rodney is a young black boy who is being raised by his grandmother. He is very smart and does well in school. DJ has to work hard and study to get by in school. One day Rodney and DJ get in a fight. They are made to spend the night at each others house as punishment. They start to become friends despite how different they are.
The book moved at a fast pace. It kept the attention of the reader well.

I would recommend the book to kids ages 11-14. They will gain a lot of knowledge from the story.


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