Book Review: An Orange for Frankie by Patricia Polacco

Book: An Orange for Frankie

Author: Patricia Polacco

Age: 4 plus

A Book that celebrates the true spirit of Christmas.

According to the author, this story is about her grandmother's ( Stella) youngest brother Frankie.

Storyline:

Frankie Stowell was the youngest of the Stowell boys. He had three elder sisters, two elder brothers and three younger sisters. They all lived in a farmhouse in Michigan, and their property was opposite a railway line. 

Every day a freight train halts at a station near their property, and the engineer comes to their farmhouse to have some coffee and refreshments. One winter day, Mr. Dunkle the engineer visited their home as usual along with four shabby hobos ( homeless persons). Mrs Stowell who was very kind, served them with some refreshments even though they were not that wealthy to afford. She also provided hot water to the hobos to wash themselves. 

One of the four men was shivering in the cold as he had only a coat to wear and not even a shirt inside, Frankie provided him with his new sweater gifted by his eldest sister, but without other's consent, no one knew this act of him even his mom. 

Each year at Christmas, the Stowell family adorns the fireplace mantle with a garland of greenery, nuts, apples, cookies, and, most importantly, Juicy oranges. Every kid in the Stowell family gets an orange. Frankie was always excited and dreamt of tasting the orange. He loved its smell.

As Christmas approached, their father travelled to Lansing, the closest city, to gather oranges for all nine children. However, he did not return home until Christmas Eve because of a Snowstorm. All the members of the Stowell family were sad and upset.

Whether their father reach home? Will the Stowell family regain their happiness? whether the family came to know about Frankie's act. What happened to Frankie's dream? This is the rest of the story. 

Review 

The true spirit of Christmas is not only making wishes and waiting for them to become true, but also, giving to others, in any form, particularly those who are needy, without any expectation to get it back. This is one such story which makes the readers understand what the true spirit of Christmas means. Expressive illustrations serve as a backbone to the story. 

Also, there is a beautiful afterword at the end of the book, which describes a miracle that still happens in the entire Stowell family during Christmas. 

There are various interpretations as to why Orange was considered a valuable gift in those days. Some people say it was expensive and scarce, and others say that the segments of orange represent our ability to share what we have with others.

Whatever may be the reason, this is a beautiful and moving story that has to be shared with all your family and friends this Christmas Season.