Review: It’s a Yuletide Miracle, Charlie Brown by Stephanie Perkins (My True Love Gave to Me)

Today is the Stephanie Perkins’ day of my very own “Twelve days of Christmas” – reviewing one story per day from My True Love Gave to Me. So far I’ve reviewed Rainbow Rowell’s “Midnights”, “The Lady and the Fox” by Kelly Link, and Matt de la Peña’s “Angels in the Snow” and Jenny Han’s “Polaris is Where You’ll Find Me”. Stephanie’s story is called “It’s a Yuletide Miracle, Charlie Brown.”

Stephanie’s story was the one I was the most looking forward to (duh) and I wasn’t disappointed. At all. I mean, what can I really say? Obviously, I loved this story. It’s my favorite one I’ve read so far.

Marigold Moon lives in an apartment full of the boxes of their previous life with her mother, who works nights at a restaurant she owns. Across the street from her apartment is a Christmas tree lot, where a boy with an amazing voice works. When Marigold goes to ask him if he’ll narrate her video (okay, she kind of stalks him), she accidentally buys a Christmas tree. Amazing-voice-boy carries it to her apartment where he finds the hoarder-looking mess that’s inside. He decides to help and you can probably guess the rest.

Perkins has the uncanny ability to make me swoon with her stories and her characters and her words. I just love everything she writes. It’s sweet and lovely. This story was just perfect for the holiday season. I really like Marigold, too. She wasn’t whiny or annoying, but rather funny and a little awkward. And, of course, you know I liked North (yep, all the kids in his family have Christmas-y names). He’s big and strong and you wouldn’t expect him to like NPR, but he does. He’s nerdy and sweet aka swoon-central.

Alright, I’ll stop gushing. Here’s a quote I really liked: