A girl scout dutifully doing her good deed by visiting a woman at the nursing home, a pastor's child struggles with unfairness at Christmas, a rich lady gets mistaken for a poor lady who needs Christmas cheer. This is a collection of five Christmas stories written to be read by Paterson's minister husband at the yearly Christmas service. Paterson can be edgy at times, but these stories are not. They all illustrate in fresh ways how the gospel story changes lives. They're subtle, as good fiction is (I'm assuming the minister husband filled in the details afterward).

Ages ago, I wrote about how knowing more about Katherine Paterson increases one's understanding of her stories. Being a fan of cheap books from Scholastic, I ordered Midnight Clear in the before Christmas order.
I love short stories and I love Katherine Paterson. It's a great combo. It turns out that Paterson's husband is a minister and each Christmas before he retired, she would write a story for him to read at service. This book (and there are a couple that follow) are compliations of many Christmases worth of stories.
Some are heart-wrenching, but honestly, I think I cried at every single one of them, especially the one about the little girl who wanted to be Mary so much and got totally screwed by everyone. i'm crying now, but that might be the combination of the smell of burned pita bread and the headache pill I just took.
These stories would be lovely for a family to share at Christmas time and discuss.
Originally posted February 2, 2007