It’s fun to read books set during the various seasons of the year. This year I reread THE DARK IS RISING by Susan Cooper. It’s set during an unexpectedly rough twelve days of Christmas in England. If you had the bad fortune to see the film of the same name and haven’t read the book, read this book. Harry Potter wasn’t the first young English boy to have mystical powers appear on his eleventh birthday.
Perhaps my favorite Christmas scene of all time came in Elizabeth Marie Pope’s THE SHERWOOD RING. Other sections of this ghost story featuring characters from the Revolutionary War take place at other points in the year. But this faceoff between British officer Peaceable Sherwood and Barbara Grahame is clever and memorable. Don’t judge this book by its cover.
Kristin Wolden Nitz 