By Mary Higgins Clark
Simon & Schuster Children’s, $17.99, 32 pages
Sad that the holidays are over? Here is a family story that will warm your heart during these winter months. The Magical Christmas Horse, by best-selling author Mary Higgins Clark, reminds us all of the importance of childhood memories and holiday magic. Johnny is excited to find out that the whole family will be together for Christmas. Everyone will be staying in the 265-year-old, 200 acre New England farmhouse in Connecticut where Johnny’s father was born. Johnny will finally be able to show his younger brother Liam the wooden rocking horse in the attic. But when Johnny searches for the horse, all he finds are broken pieces. How will he show Liam his favorite toy? Illustrator Wendell Minor’s watercolor and gouache paintings decorate each page. While Johnny is searching for the wooden horse, he makes other fascinating discoveries about his family – his great great grandfather’s military uniform, a picture of George Washington who stayed in the farmhouse during the Revolutionary War, and other treasures. Can Johnny’s dad and grandfather fix the Christmas horse and make Johnny and Liam’s wishes come true? Fans of Mary Higgins Clark’s suspense novels will enjoy this family holiday story.
Reviewed by Kathryn Franklin
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