Review by Booklist Review
Sure to be popular at holiday time, this is a fictionalized account of how a Unitarian choir director happened to write one of our more ubiquitous winter holiday songs. In 1857, James Lord Pierpont, a native of New England, is living in Savannah, Georgia, when a late fall heat wave makes him pine for the crisp, chilly weather of his home. He writes a new song that creates a sensation for the congregation when it is performed by the children's choir, who shake strands of bells and toss white feathers to simulate falling snow. A controversy stemming from the fact that some of the church members are former slaves is woven into the story, providing a touch of drama. Although this is a small event, lush oil illustrations with the characters' expressions featured prominently give the whole affair an air of significance. In an afterword, the author explains how he took the contradictory information available to form his story. A fascinating, unusual bit of historical fiction.--Enos, Randall Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Harris offers a fictionalized story about the genesis of this carol. The song's author, James L. Pierpont, likely wrote it while working as a minister in Savannah, Ga. The author sets the book during a "sweltering" November in the 1850s; in an early scene that gives the story additional historical depth, Pierpont explains to his daughter that a brick hurled through their church window was likely done because the congregation includes four former slaves. The heat inspires Pierpont to write the song, which is performed by a children's choir at a concert. Gustavson's period oil paintings are impressively realistic and emotive, effectively capturing the minister's passion. Ages 6-10. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 1-3-Harris takes the popular claim of when and where "Jingle Bells" was written and adds imagined events. The fact that composer James Lord Pierpont was the music director of a Unitarian church in pre-Civil War Savannah becomes the inspiration for beginning the story-a brick thrown through a window because of the congregation's stance against slavery. As Pierpont and his daughter clean up the glass and he feels the hot November air, he realizes that she has never experienced a snowy winter or been on a sleigh. Further lyrics come from snippets of conversation and the drive to uplift the parishioners' spirits. The oil painting illustrations do right by the story (so much that one wishes it were true), capturing the atmosphere of a community willing to stick together as they journey against the grain, whether that means bringing snow somehow to the South or standing by an unpopular belief.-Joanna K. Fabicon, Los Angeles Public Library (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
Based on a true story, Harris's brisk text uses a liberal amount of invented conversation to embellish the tale of a northern-born songsmith living in 1850s Savannah, Georgia, and longing for a snowy winter. It's a hot November, and John Lorn Pierpont, Unitarian choir director, is struggling to come up with a new Thanksgiving song for the annual concert when he suddenly thinks of the sound of jingling bells. Gustavson's accomplished paintings, realistic yet folksy, reveal small dramas not in the text, and each face in the choir and congregation seems to hide an entire character study. An author's note with photos at the end provides more information. lolly obinson (c) Copyright 2011. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Harris offers a fictionalized interpretation of the circumstances surrounding the beloved carol's composition in Savannah, Ga., in the era just before the Civil War.The song, originally titled "One Horse Open Sleigh," was composed by John Pierpont, a music director who worked at the Unitarian church in Savannah. As he explains in an author's note, Harris takes some of the known facts about the composer, rearranges some dates and creates a plot in which Pierpont composes the song for a Thanksgiving service. His daughter, Lillie, and an African-American girl adopted by a member of the church are also main characters, and they use strings of sleigh bells during the song's performance and join with the other children from the church in tossing bags of feathers at the conclusion to simulate snow. The story begins with a racially based attack on the church (bricks thrown through the church windows because a few church members were African-American) and concludes with the two girls side-by-side performing in solidarity, with the composer's rousing hope that the song "reaches the whole world." Pleasant oil paintings in a large format create the appropriate historical milieu for the Southern, pre-Civil War setting and appealing personalities for the two girls.The author's artistic license creates a modern fable with a pleasant provenance for the song, but it's not clear enough that this is fiction.(Picture book. 6-9) ]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
