Keeping Holiday can probably be best described as a Christmas-themed Pilgrim’s Progress for modern Young Adult readers. Starr Meade has written a delightful little story about two cousins, Dylan and Clare, who are trying to keep Holiday always in their hearts. Holiday is the name of a popular town which people come from all over the world to see. People who seldom, if ever, attend church “always do when (they are in) Holiday!” Everyone is kind in Holiday. It’s a place to have fun and relax and Dylan has been several times with this family before he discovers a notice laying on the ground that asks if the reader would like to “KEEP Holiday”. Dylan discovers that in order to receive a permanent pass to Holiday, he has to be “found by the Founder who is the finder too.”
This launches Dylan and Clare into an adventure of finding the true Holiday and meeting the Founder of it. This book has hints of Narnia in it (with the talking trees) and is an interesting adventure in its own right. Sometimes when you come across stories like these, in the midst of the allegory the story starts to unravel. I thought Meade did a reasonable job holding things together and keeping things Biblically accurate. (That is no small accomplishment!) R.C. Sproul, director of Ligonier Ministries gives his approval of this book on the back cover which, to me, says a lot. Published by Crossway Books, this is a fun holiday read for the youngster in your life. It would be a great read for children 9-12, I would think, to remind them that Holiday (and the reason for it) can be celebrated all year long by each and every one of us. Take a look! This might become a new family holiday classic.
If you’d like to share one of your favorite books for children with a Christmas theme, please link up to our Children’s Classics — Christmas edition on December 9. You can also join us in reading Dickens’ A Christmas Carol for our December 2 Classics Bookclub.
Carrie comes by her book obsession honestly, having descended from a long line of bibliophiles. She blogs about books regularly at Reading to Know.