Christmas in Canaan - Hardcover

Rogers, Kenny; Davenport, Donald

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 006000746X ISBN 13: 9780060007461

Publisher: Harpercollins Childrens Books, 2002

Synopsis

With no solution to their ongoing feud, a tough, white farm boy and a high-spirited black aspiring writer are forced together by their parents to work out their issues, but it is their mutual interest in helping a wounded puppy that soon leads to the end of their battles and a start to their unlikely friendship.

About this title

About the Author

Kenny Rogers is a respected singer and musician who is an icon in the country music world. He is also a writer and a producer of plays, musicals and television specials. Mr. Rogers is the author of two picture books, Kenny Rogers Presents the Greatest and The Toy Shoppe.

Reviews

Grade 6-9-A poor white boy who is academically challenged and shares his neighbors' racial prejudice becomes friendly with a book-loving black boy when they rescue and raise an injured pup together. Set in East Texas in the early 1960s with a flash-forward to the boys' adulthood in 1975, this well-intentioned novel labors under the weight of its message of tolerance. The celebrity author's collaborator is a screenwriter; and, indeed, this treatment might have been more successful as a television holiday special. Here the characters remain flat and one-dimensional; the plot, predictable. The dialogue, particularly that of the black characters, is unconvincing. Truman Capote's A Christmas Memory (Knopf, 1989) is a more satisfying story of a Christmas in a rural past, celebrated by unlikely companions with more affection than money.-V. W.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Country and western star Rogers and co-writer Davenport deliver a novel of interracial friendship that opens in the 1960s. As punishment for fighting-after Texas farmer's son DJ tells off bookworm Rodney "for actin' so smart for a colored"-the two boys must spend several days in each other's home. A rocky start gives way to friendship, charted here as the novel tracks the boys' growth through turbulent times to manhood. Some of the plot twists are more akin to the neatly made stuff of TV drama. For instance, a meager but memorable Christmas in which the only gifts are catalogue pictures is recreated years later (after Rodney has achieved success as a playwright), this time with real gifts. Even so, the writing is able and the narrative marked by a number of genuinely moving moments. All ages.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Gr. 5-8. The lives of two Texas boys are forever altered one morning in the 1960s after one has a run-in with the other on the school bus. Rodney, a quiet bookworm, sits at the rear of the bus because he's black. DJ, a white boy frantically finishing his homework needs to know a state capital. When Rodney supplies the right answer, DJ is teased that he is dumber than Rodney. A fight ensues between the boys, and DJ's father decides the wisest punishment is to have the boys live together, two days at each house. Rodney's grandmother agrees. The kids find the experience very trying until a wounded dog draws them together. Then the friendship is sealed, and the gentle narrative chronicles a sweet, lifelong bond. The story culminates in racial unrest that puts Rodney's life in jeopardy. The holiday backdrop makes this good seasonal fare, and the engaging premise, resonant narrative, and believable characters will reach a wide audience. Shelley Townsend-Hudson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Harpercollins Childrens Books
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 006000746X
• ISBN 13: 9780060007461
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 325