First published in 1971, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson is a children’s chapter book which you can happily read in one or two sittings. Beth, the mild-mannered narrator, tells the story of how her church’s annual Christmas pageant is taken over by the Herdmans, a family of delinquent kids from the wrong side of the tracks who only came to Sunday School in the first place because they heard there were snacks. The story is alternately hilarious and heart-warming, and—as any good Christmas media should do—it really makes you think about the “spirit of Christmas.” I’m not even Christian, but I love this book.
And, awesomely, it has also been converted into a kid-friendly play, in case your local theater (or church or community organization or other group) is looking for an alternative to the traditional nativity pageant. Here is a snippet of the script of the play on Google Books. —Juliet Grames, associate publisher
I know what you’re thinking. What do armadillos have to do with the holiday season? John Irving’s A Prayer for Owen Meany may not explicitly be about Christmas, but some of the most memorable scenes in the book revolve around a couple of Christmas-related plays. One is the humorous fiasco of the Nativity story, starring the irreverent pint-sized titular character as the baby Jesus. The other is a chilling production of A Christmas Carol, with Owen playing the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. (Owen, of course, is a Christ figure besides … but I’ll spare you from the main points of the paper I wrote for my Theology and Literature course in college.) It’s also a warm, nostalgia-inducing story that screams to be read in front of a roaring fire at your parents’ house.
Plus, A Prayer for Owen Meany is a homage to one of my favorite books, Günter Grass’s The Tin Drum, so it gets bonus points for that. —Rachel Kowal, associate managing editor
Love & Terror on the Howling Plains of Nowhere by Poe Ballantine is superb, and I look forward to reading more and then finally finishing it over the holiday break. Part memoir part murder investigation, Love & Terror tells the tale of how Ballantine, an itinerant writer in his 50s whose scattershot travels across the United States land him in a series of low paying jobs, finally ends up married to a younger Mexican woman, living in Chadron, Nebraska, and assisting in the investigation of the disappearance of a college math professor. The book is full of wonderful passages describing small town life, raising an autistic child while trying to make a rocky marriage last, and, of course, details the riveting, tragic murder investigation at its center. —Kevin Murphy, digital media manager
I plan on reading The Thing About Luck by Cynthia Kadohata and Boxers & Saints by Gene Luen Yang. Egregious absences in my 2013 reading list … shh … —Dan Ehrenhaft, Soho Teen editorial director
I’m looking forward to finishing two books I’m about halfway through: Chaos: Making a New Science and Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman, both by James Gleick. —Mark Doten, senior editor
Nothing says Christmas like bugs and video games and class commentary courtesy of crazy ol’ WTV. Maybe I’ll just play video games instead. I hear the new Call of Duty is cool. I think you have to have one of those headsets to play it though. —Rudy Martinez, marketing manager
I’m really looking forward to getting caught up on the forthcoming Soho Teen titles (really!), especially Mapmaker, a thriller written by the dynamic duo of the incredibly named Galaxy Craze and Mark Bomback (writer of The Wolverine and Race to Witch Mountain, among others… sort of a big deal!), which comes out in the fall, and Ask Me, about a girl who’s an oracle, which comes out in April. —Meredith Barnes, publicity manager
I’ve read a few of the essays in this collection before but it’s time to go cover to cover. Mitchell was a truly incredible writer and I’m particularly eager to revisit “Joe Gould’s Secret.” —Paul Oliver, marketing & publicity director
I’m deep into The Goldfinch, by Donna Tartt, and am looking forward to spending many holiday hours with Theo Decker as more people undoubtedly fall down dead around him. In fact, I haven’t read a book since the last Charles Dickens I read (years ago) in which a kid endures such a relentless series of tragedies. And while I wouldn’t call it a holiday book per se, it does ooze a delicious despair that somehow fits the season. Love it. Oh, and Merry Christmas… —Bronwen Hruska, publisher