A Family Christmas

In A Family Christmas, Caroline shares the Christmas poetry, prose, scriptural readings, and lyrics that are most dear to her, drawing on authors as diverse as Harper Lee, Nikki Giovanni, Martin Luther King Jr., Billy Collins, John and Yoko, and Charles Dickens. There are also many lesser-known gems throughout and personal treasures from her own family -- including a young Caroline's Christmas list to Santa Claus and a letter from her father as President to a child concerned about Santa's well-being. This diverse and unique anthology will become a timeless keepsake, and will enrich your heart and mind with the spirit of Christmas.

A Family Christmas includes selections from:

Groucho Marx, Emma Lazarus, Mark Twain, Sandra Cisneros, Pearl S. Buck, Truman Capote, Gabriela Mistral, Ogden Nash, Clement Clarke Moore, Vladimir Nabokov, Marianne Moore, Calvin Trillin, E. B. White, and many more.

Caroline Kennedy is the editor of the New York Times bestselling A Family of Poems, Best-Loved Poems of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, A Patriot's Handbook, and Profiles in Courage for Our Time, and is the coauthor of The Right to Privacy and In Our Defense: The Bill of Rights in Action. She serves as the Vice Chair of the New York City Fund for Public Schools.

When I began assembling [this] collection, I was skeptical that I would learn anything new about Christmas, but reading and reflecting on the history and spirit of Christmas brought back many memories, and taught me a great deal . . . The literature of Christmas ranges from the miraculous to the tragic, the profound to the ridiculous, but always represents the connection to something larger than ourselves." -Caroline Kennedy

In A Family Christmas, Caroline shares the Christmas poetry, prose, scriptural readings, and lyrics that are most dear to her, drawing on authors as diverse as Harper Lee, Nikki Giovanni, Martin Luther King Jr., Billy Collins, John and Yoko, and Charles Dickens. There are also many lesser-known gems throughout and personal treasures from her own family -- including a young Caroline's Christmas list to Santa Claus and a letter from her father as President to a child concerned about Santa's well-being. This diverse and unique anthology will become a timeless keepsake, and will enrich your heart and mind with the spirit of Christmas.

A Family Christmas includes selections from:

Groucho Marx, Emma Lazarus, Mark Twain, Sandra Cisneros, David Sedaris, Pearl S. Buck, Truman Capote, Kurt Vonnegut, Gabriela Mistral, Ogden Nash, Clement Clarke Moore, Vladimir Nabokov, Marianne Moore, Calvin Trillin, E. B. White, and many more.

Publishers Weekly

Kennedy, who possesses a proven track record for bringing literary anthology into the publishing mainstream, offers a potpourri of her favorite stories, poems, essays, scriptures and songs associated with the holiday season. Though David Sedaris's performance of his whimsical monologue "Six to Eight Black Men" provides a notable exception, the narration duties fall to a rotating cast of veteran readers. Some standout performances include Barbara Caruso's rendition of Grace Paley's "The Loudest Voice," Jeff Woodman's presentation of Truman Capote's "A Christmas Memory" and Saidah Arrika Ekulona's brief but riveting selection from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girlby Harriet A. Jacobs. Some listeners might have preferred a greater proportion of contemporary recordings from their original sources. Also, some of the letters, telegrams and other correspondences are choppy relative to the overall flow of the collection, and the musical selections sometimes serve as pleasant interludes rather than stand-alone works of expression. However, in an era when Christmas has become a polarized tug-of-war between religious and secular arenas, Kennedy strikes an appealing balance that celebrates diverse perspectives. The enclosed booklet is helpful for tracking down specific material. Simultaneous release with the Hyperion hardcover. (Oct.)

Caroline Kennedy is the editor of the New York Times bestselling A Family of Poems, Best-Loved Poems of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, A Patriot's Handbook, and Profiles in Courage for Our Time, and is the coauthor of The Right to Privacy and In Our Defense: The Bill of Rights in Action. She serves as the Vice Chair of the New York City Fund for Public Schools.