Albert And The Angels - Hardcover

Leslie Norris is a renowned poet and a professor of creative writing. He lives in Orem, Utah.

Mordicai Gerstein is the esteemed author/illustrator of The Wild Boy, an ALA Notable Book, and other books for children. He lives in Northampton, Massachusetts.

Gr. 4-6, younger for reading aloud. Eight-year-old Albert wants to give his mother the best Christmas gift she's ever gotten: a replacement for her grandmother's long-lost gold medallion. With his talking dachshund Lucille, whom he alone can hear, he plays his flute on the holiday streets trying to earn money for the present. He collects a dollar and buys a trinket, which he loses on the way home. As he and Lucille search for the lost pendant late on Christmas Eve, they encounter an angelic boy, who magically transports them to a warehouse of found property where Albert retrieves the pendant from a Santa-like proprietor. The next morning, Albert's mother unwraps the box to find her original medallion, lost years ago, and the day ends in surprised happiness. Although the story's leisurely pace may be too slow for some children, the rich, descriptive text will appeal to intermediate readers, particularly those experiencing their own seasonal anxieties and desires to please. Most compelling, however, is the story's magic--the night adventure, the talking pet, the mysterious gift--all wonderfully realized in Gerstein's nostalgic, ink-and-paint artwork. Gillian Engberg
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