by Moe Zilla

Created on: March 10, 2010

A little girl takes a train ride with her grandfather to go a performance of "The Nutcracker" the day before Christmas. It's her special day, and they dress in their best clothes, and the girl is excited about the view out the window. "Merry Christmas, Dog," the girl says to a dog running alongside the train. But there's also a bittersweet history lingering under the events of the day.

"Don't forget, Grandpa may be a little sad today," her father had warned her. "He'll be remembering..."

The girl sees a field with cows and gets a peek at the ocean. ("Someone's surfing, even though it's winter, even though tomorrow's Christmas.") The train whizzes through crossings, and then sounds its high whistle. "It smells the city, Grandpa says, and the girl eagerly anticipates their arrival in the city.

Eve Bunting captures all the magic of the trip, including a decorated Christmas tree at the city's train depot. There's silver bells on the overpasses, and a bus whisks the two to the Theater Center. There's even a banner strung across the top of the theatre, "like a giant Christmas package waiting to be opened." Soon the curtain's gone up, and there's an illustration of a stage with a Christmas tree. "And oh, it's wonderful! There's a Sugar Plum Fairy and an army of giant mice...

"We're magicked away to a land of pupets and dolls and candy people and I don't want it to ever end."

Beth Peck created some beautiful paintings to illustrate the scenes in the book. She sets the story's festive mood with a bright blue sky over a car that's disappearing up the highway through a sunny green hillside. There's something Christmas-y about the scenes she illustrates, but also a determined old-fashioned realism. According to the book's jacket, she once illustrated a version of Truman Capote's "A Christmas Memory," and she's trying to strike the right tone for this book's emotional resolution.

It's hard for the audience to let the dancers go, and the girl is sorry when her special day is finally over. "A special day is never over," Grandpa tells her wisely. And then the girl asks about grandpa's special day with her mother. The girl's mother died when she was three, and though she hardly remembers her, she's chosen this moment to ask. Grandpa closes his eyes, and remembers it was Christmas Eve, "all those years ago." The girl feels as if she and Grandpa and her mother are somehow all together, and promises Grandpa that she'll always remember her first trip to "The Nutcracker."

"Isn't it good that you and I are starting some new memories," Grandpa asks. And the girl answers that it's really good.

"Merry Christmas, Grandpa."

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