MennoLink Books and Music

"The Pink Plate" will show you what a child experiences when she is wrongfully blamed for breaking Kathleen's plate of mouth-watering fudge she had prepared for her boyfriend. Know, too, the joy of forgiveness, even after ten years.

You will fee as shamed-faced as Jean in the story "Trusie Kohl" as you discover the real reason that limping Trusie was stopped and questioned by a police officer. You see, Jean was sure that Trusie had stolen a purse. Actually, she was a hero.

These thirteen stories will bring tears to your eye and offer a deep concern for others as you read them through Christmas Carol Kauffman's observant and affectionate eyes. Each story contains a lesson for readers of all ages.

"May the reader remember that several of these stories were written during the occupation of France by Hitler," the author says in his introduction. "The gospel of the birth, the death, and the resurrection of Christ was the only valid answer to the diabolical horrors perpetrated by the princes of this world."

Trocme, as the Protestant pastor, his wife, Magda, along with many others, are credited with saving the lives of thousands of refugees, many of them Jewish children, by hiding them in the area. Nelly Trocme was a teenage during those treacherous days.

These tales, many based on biblical stories, include charming fantasy, colorful angels and animals, and a sense of surviving the dangers which surround all of us.

Among the stories are "The Angel Who Didn't Sing," "The Church Built with Snow," and "The Rebellion of the Animals."