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    The Birds' Christmas Carol
    The Birds' Christmas Carol
    The Birds' Christmas Carol
    Ebook79 pages53 minutes

    The Birds' Christmas Carol

    By Kate Douglas Smith Wiggin

    4/5

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    Read preview
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArchive Classics
    Release dateNov 1, 1974
    The Birds' Christmas Carol

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    Reviews for The Birds' Christmas Carol

    4/5

    94 ratings12 reviews

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    • 4/5
      I was inspired by a wish to visit some classics, particularly ones available as free ebooks. I loved this one. Sweet, pretty and apt. Despite the book being christian, I did not find it alienating. Highly descriptive whilst being lovely generally. I recommend this happily.
    • 4/5
      The Birds' Christmas Carol by Wiggin_ Kate Douglas SmithBaby bird is born on Christmas day and the male birds want a change at naming the bird. The mother decides Carol is most fitting for the first girl of their family.Story follows her life as the others get older and move on with their lives. She makes it a special Christmas for one family every year.Love charity work of exchanging books for 14 days with other children at the hospital.I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).
    • 4/5
      A bit of a tearjerker, but with humor as well, and a good Christmas message about caring for the poor.
    • 3/5
      A sweet old-fashioned story written in the late 19th century. The amusing preparation the impoverished Ruggles' children had to endure before attending the affluent Carol Bird's Christmas party was worth a couple of stars alone.
    • 4/5
      Sentimental yes, but not so mawkish even read during contemporary times. Mrs. Ruggles managing her lively brood's toilette and schooling them severely on their manners before they attend Carol's dinner party is the humorous highlight of the whole thing.
    • 5/5
      This book was a Christmas gift to from my adult son. My copy of the book was printed 1914 and there is the most wonderful scent and feel to the smooth old pages. I think it was well-loved before it came into my hands. It is a delightful story, at times sad yet always charming. One very small thing (which I absolutely love) is "Cary" is the name of Carol's pet canary. (Cary is not a featured character; I only remember the name because I thought it was so clever)
    • 4/5
      A sweet tale about a sick girl, Carol, and her plans to host a decadent Christmas dinner for the poor children living next door. Kate Douglas Wiggin's story was published in 1886, and its themes of generosity and kindness are as important today as they ever were. A great story to read every year, starting from a young age. The language is charming, but old, so some help may be needed for independent reading, ages 8-10.
    • 5/5
      Wiggin is absolutely my favorite author, and this is truly one of the sweetest stories. It is a small book that reads quickly. Do yourself and your children a favor, and read this during the holiday season each and every year! A classic no doubt!
    • 5/5
      One of the many books I read annually between Thanksgiving and Christmas. An excellent Christmas story from the author of Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm.
    • 5/5
      My English teacher read a chapter or so from this book to us each day. Although it was so long ago, I still rememeber thinking how well-written and emotional the book was. The only problem was, I thought the story was about a family of birds! After all these years, I still think about the story often.
    • 5/5
      A lovely vintage story of unselfishness and Christmas. A classic.
    • 4/5
      My mother read this to me every year at Christmas for as long as I can remember, and my children insist I read it every year also. They have to take over at the parts where I cry. I am going to buy each of them a copy to read to their children someday.

    Book preview

    The Birds' Christmas Carol - Kate Douglas Smith Wiggin

    Project Gutenberg's The Birds' Christmas Carol, by Kate Douglas Wiggin

    This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with

    almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or

    re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included

    with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net

    Title: The Birds' Christmas Carol

    Author: Kate Douglas Wiggin

    Posting Date: July 23, 2008 [EBook #721]

    Release Date: November, 1996

    Language: English

    *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAROL ***

    Produced by Judith Boss. HTML version by Al Haines.

    THE BIRDS' CHRISTMAS CAROL

    BY

    KATE DOUGLAS WIGGIN

    To

    The Three Dearest Children in the World, BERTHA, LUCY, AND HORATIO.

    "O little ones, ye cannot know

        The power with which ye plead,

    Nor why, as on through life we go,

        The little child doth lead."

    CONTENTS

    The Birds' Christmas Carol.

    I.

    A LITTLE SNOW BIRD.

    It was very early Christmas morning, and in the stillness of the dawn, with the soft snow falling on the housetops, a little child was born in the Bird household.

    They had intended to name the baby Lucy, if it were a girl; but they hadn't expected her on Christmas morning, and a real Christmas baby was not to be lightly named—the whole family agreed in that.

    They were consulting about it in the nursery. Mr. Bird said that he had assisted in naming the three boys, and that he should leave this matter entirely to Mrs. Bird; Donald wanted the child called Maud, after a pretty little curly-haired girl who sat next him in school; Paul chose Luella, for Luella was the nurse who had been with him during his whole babyhood, up to the time of his first trousers, and the name suggested all sorts of comfortable things. Uncle Jack said that the first girl should always be named for her mother, no matter how hideous the name happened to be.

    Grandma said that she would prefer not to take any part in the discussion, and everybody suddenly remembered that Mrs. Bird had thought of naming the baby Lucy, for Grandma herself; and, while it would be indelicate for her to favor that name, it would be against human nature for her to suggest any other, under the circumstances.

    Hugh, the hitherto baby, if that is a possible term, sat in one corner and said nothing, but felt, in some mysterious way, that his nose was out of joint; for there was a newer baby now, a possibility he had never taken into consideration; and the first girl, too, a still higher development of treason, which made him actually green with jealousy.

    But it was too profound a subject to be settled then and there, on the spot; besides, Mama had not been asked, and everybody felt it rather absurd, after all, to forestall a decree that was certain to be absolutely wise, just and perfect.

    The reason that the subject had been brought up at all so early in the day lay in the fact that Mrs. Bird never allowed her babies to go over night unnamed. She was a person of so great decision of character that she would have blushed at such a thing; she said that to let blessed babies go dangling and dawdling about without names, for months and months, was enough to ruin them for life. She also said that if one could not make up one's mind in twenty-four hours it was a sign that—but I will not repeat the rest, as it might prejudice you against the most charming woman in the world.

    So Donald took his new velocipede and went out to ride up and down the stone pavement and notch the shins of innocent people as they passed by, while Paul spun his musical top on the front steps.

    But Hugh refused to leave the scene of action. He seated himself on the top stair in the hall, banged his head against the railing a few times, just by way of uncorking the vials of his wrath, and then subsided into gloomy silence, waiting to declare war if more first girl babies were thrust upon a family already surfeited with that unnecessary

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