Review: All I Want for Christmas: A Peace Country Story by Talena Winters
Kids like him don’t get anything from Santa—let alone parents.
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Contemporary Fiction | Small-Town Fiction | Short Story (Novelette)
All I Want for Christmas: A Peace Country Story by Talena Winters
Description
All twelve-year-old Trevor wants for Christmas is to find a family. When the longtime foster kid gets moved to a group home, he writes to Santa as a last resort. But being good is hard, and kids like him don’t get anything from Santa, let alone parents. But then Trevor meets Gary Harris…
My Thoughts
Okay, don’t take this the wrong way, folks. But a big reason why I like this novelette so much is because it isn’t as corny as I imagined it might be.
A Relatable Kid
Hey, I’ve nothing against short fiction about children wanting families. (I wouldn’t have tried this read if I thought I’d hate it.) But sometimes stories along these lines aren’t much more than “longing, childless couple falls in love with lonely orphan at Christmas, and they all live happily ever after” tales.
However, Trevor’s got more to him and his thinking than I expected. He isn’t a cute and cuddly little tyke, but neither is he a dark and defiant porcupine. His imperfections and self-awareness alongside his dreams make him relatable.
An Interesting Shift
Also, although some of what Gary learns may be a little on the nose, his perspective shift is interesting. I think the emotional jump the story makes before the last chapter is a fairly big one, but it helps that the journey there isn’t schmaltzy or oversimple.
A quick and altogether satisfying holiday read for me.
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