A Midnight Clear: Stories for the Christmas Season

by Katherine Paterson

Twelve stories by the author of Flip-Flop Girl include the tale of a twelve-year-old Girl Scout who triumphs over the rules and learns about joy from an old lady in a nursing home.

Genres: Christmas, Short Stories, Fiction, Holiday, Young Adult, Christian, Childrens

224 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Katherine Womeldorf Paterson is an American writer best known for children's novels, including Bridge to Terabithia. For four different books published 1975–1980, she won two Newbery Medals and two National Book Awards. She is one of four people to win the two major international awards; for "lasting contribution to children's literature" she won the biennial Hans Christian Andersen Award for Writing in 1998 and for her career contribution to "children's and young adult literature in the broadest sense" she won the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award from the Swedish Arts Council in 2006, the biggest monetary prize in children's literature. Also for her body of work she was awarded the NSK Neustadt Prize for Children's Literature in 2007 and the Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal from the American Library Association in 2013. She was the second US National Ambassador for Young People's Literature, serving 2010 and 2011.

Reviews

[Rebekah Morris · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was hoping for a few good Christmas stories in this collection, but unfortunately none of them seemed very well done. They were short (which I was expecting), trite, and the characters were flat.

Merit Badges - This story never seemed to go anywhere. I liked the idea of making friends with some older people in a nursing home, but the staff was awful and didn't even act like they cared for the people living there.

Poor Little Innocent Lamb - It sounded sort of like the Christmas movie "Miss Lettie and Me" only it was not the same and so blah and boring that I didn't care what happened to anyone.

Star Lady - This one was odd. I did like Buddy trying to bring some Christmas cheer, but that was it.

Exultate Jubilate - Not a story I would expect any children to be interested in. It was strange, and I didn't care for the fact that the father wasn't a Christian example to his family.

The Handmaid of the Lord - I have to admit that I felt sorry for Rachel. It seemed that all anyone did was laugh at her or make fun of her. No one cared that she wanted a special part in the Christmas program. No one cared that she was going to have a part and then have it taken away at the last minute. It made me frustrated. No she wasn't perfect and did get a little obnoxious at times, but I sympathized with her.

[SheriC]

This little book of Christmas stories is a gift from a dear friend from a few years ago. I picked it up at the start of December, hoping to nudge myself into the spirit of the season. The stories are a little dated now, but uplifting and inspiring and better written than I had expected, a pleasant surprise.

I only got to page 68/212 before Christmas, so I'm reshelving it for now and will finish it next December.

[Becky · Rating 1 out of 5]

A collection of short stories for Christmas, this book as a whole was disappointing. The majority of the stories were weak right from the beginning. Others started to become stronger only to abruptly end, many times stumping me as to how the ending related or summed up the story at all. Maybe I completely missed the point? There was one story called, "Star Lady" that was actually pretty good. The rest I could have done without.

[Linda Lipko]

Katherine Paterson is a two-time Newbery medal award winning author. Her writings are crisp, poignant and deal with difficult situations. The Same Stuff As Stars, Jacob I Have Loved, A Bridge to Terabithia, The Great Gilly Tomkins are but a few of her excellent books.

A Midnight Clear is a small book of short stories that capture the meaning of Christmas. Never resorting to smultz or over dramatization, the tales are heartwarming and lovely. ( )

[Lillian Keith · Rating 4 out of 5]

I needed something short and lighter to read, so I decided to do this one (since I bought it last year and forgot to read it over the winter lol.) It was a nice collection of short stories and would make a great family read-aloud around Christmas time. I think I liked Poor Little Innocent Lamb the most (Isaiah was such a wonderful friend to Travis; plus I enjoyed the themes of found family in that one.)

I think there's a couple places throughout the book that I didn't quite agree with, theological-wise. Still, I enjoyed exploring the unique character voices and narrative styles that Paterson can write in.

CW: some use of the word stupid. Not much else that I can remember.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick read for a library Bingo. I bought this book for my daughter years ago. We both just recently read it. Five different stories of kindness in the holiday season that left me feeling good.

[Khanh · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm generally not a short stories person, and I find most short stories collections unsatisfying somehow. But I really enjoyed all of these.

[Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Katerine Paterson captures the perspectives of children and the hopefulness of Christmas so well.

[Cindy Sa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Five very short stories of Christmas. A lovely quick read before Christmas.

[Owen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wholesome, Christmas-themed short stories. I teared up against my will a few times.

[Rusty · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book reveals the magic of Christmas in different stories. Merit Badges is a charming tale about a poor boy who befriends a rich woman and touches her heart. He is supposed to befriend a poor lonely woman and he's certain that the woman living in this rambling big house is perfect. Poor Little Innocent Lamb is about a child who is deposited upon a relative who resents her presence. The handyman recognizes that the child needs love and attention. He gives the child a lamb whose mother could only nurse one of her twins. They story develops from that point. Exultate Jubilate takes an unusual twist featuring a man who resembles the Grinch who encounters a bedraggled young man selling greens. The Handmaid of the Lord is about a minister's daughter who wants to play Mary in the Christmas pageant. It appears that she will get the part when the girl selected falls and breaks both arms. I love reading groups of short stories such as these, perhaps because the tale is so concise.

[Becky · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everything She Ever Writes I Read!

[Julie Morales · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book of short Christmas stories, all written for the author's husband to read to his congregation. Most of them were pretty good. Some of them made me cry, others made me laugh out loud, and most of them gave me a warm, fuzzy feeling at the end.
There are two stories of babies being born. In one, a couple is traveling on Christmas Eve when they become lost and run out of gas. In the other, a family is living in the mountains south of Mexico when war reaches their village. They flee before the soldiers arrive. The father tries to get his family safely across the border before it's time for the child to be born.
There's a story of a minister's young daughter trying to find her place in a world that never seems to have a place for her. There's another story of a young girl sent to live with her grand-aunt, who isn't interested in anything going on around her except the prophets of her farm. The little girl decides to bring the Christmas program to her, since she never leaves the house and wouldn't go to the church.
It may be April when I'm reading this, but I'm always up for a nice, warm, fuzzy-feeling Christmas story.

[Elena · Rating 2 out of 5]

Two-time Newberry Medalist Katherine Paterson has written some beloved children's tales (including Bridge to Terabithia), so I was excited to pick this one up from a used book store, expecting much from this collection of short stories. But I just was not really interested in any of the stories and hurried through it. Each taught a lesson without being preachy, such as reaching out and volunteering rather than only expecting gifts at Christmas and another about a busy dad skipping out on Christmas Eve church service to put a wooden pony who gets a knock on his door and opportunity to offer kindness to one more unfortunate than himself. I didn't like one in particular about a preacher's daughter who wanted the part of Mary so bad in the church's annual nativity play, that she became a bit of a jerk in the process. These stories seemed like a modern take on Christmas stories with less sugary and predictable nature than Christmas with Anne but just didn't quite hit the mark for me.

[Kathleen · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book really surprised me..and not in the way I thought it would. A Midnight Clear is a collection of 12 Christmas-themed short stories. Some are tales re-told in an updated way. There is a Scrooge character. There is a nativity story. There is a child's Christmas pageant story. Each tale starts well, the characters are "believable". The stories continue and the plot develops and gets interesting and then the stories just end. What happened to the characters...perhaps it was meant for the reader to develop the conclusion?

[Billie White · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a book I picked up hoping to fly through to finish my 2024 GoodReads Book Challenge, but I didn’t make it in time because I realized I DON’T like short stories. They make it hard to keep my attention after I finish one.

She did have a couple short stories which were good and even surprised me; however, most of them seemed cliché. I thought it was interesting that she took different themes from Jesus’ birth story and made short stories based on those.

I don’t know if I would recommend this to anyone 👀.

[Naomi Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Here are five short stories about kids and different church related events that take place around Christmas time. My favorites were Merit Badges was Poor Little Innocent Lamb. I know these are short stories, but it still seemed like they ended abruptly or were just too short.

Its a little bland to recommend for your average kids. Its excellent for church oriented Christian families of all ages though.

[Molly Grimmius · Rating 4 out of 5]

My sister scored this find of Katherine Paterson. Every Christmas Eve, Kstherine’s Husband would read short story that his wife had written to illustrate once again the meaning ofChristmas. Each story has wonderful and true characters that abound in the real world. Love the honesty and beauty each story brought... especially loved the one of Rachel not seeing her part in the Christmas play and then the importance she shows at the end!

[Katrin V · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually read two collections of Patterson's short stories. Angels and Other Strangers was the other one, but realized I might be accused of trying to rack up my year end score if I counted each separately. A couple of these are stellar - really 5 star, and a couple are meh? maybe 3 star. Good seasonal reads.

[Julie Patton · Rating 3 out of 5]

My favorite story is Exultate Jubilate which was a play on A Christmas Carol. Star Lady was endearing, and Merit Badges was funny and had a good message. Poor Little Innocent Lamb was okay, but I didn't enjoy the ending as much. The Handmaid of the Lord was my least favorite despite having a happy-ish ending. I read the first three stories aloud, but they are more appropriate for upper elementary kids or older.

[Judine Brey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun collection of short stories that moves the different aspects of the Christmas story into modern times. While I was a little thrown by the stories moving to very different cultures, they each had a unique voice and drew me in to the characters. This is a book I will revisit in the future.

[Adrianna · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love Bridge to Terabithia, but this collection of Christmas stories were all a bit too much for my taste. I believe they were written to a certain audience with certain expectations and to that end, fulfilled the job. However, if I tried to write a short Christmas story with a strong moralistic message, I'm pretty sure mine wouldn't fare any better. I believe children may enjoy this, too.

[Christie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I received this book for free from Scholastic years ago. I finally read it while having a bout of insomnia. 3 of the stories featured an adult character whose spouse and children had died. The one story I sort of enjoyed was Star Lady (whose husband and son had died). Overall, entirely too Christian for me.

[Tiffany · Rating 3 out of 5]

5 short stories about Christmas. She's an author that I like, but these didn't jump out at me. Cute stories, some religion. Nice if you want short stories that show how to be happy with what you have in the moment.

[Becki · Rating 2 out of 5]

As with all short story compilations I’ve read, I liked some stories better than others.
I did find it interesting that these were all written initially for her husband to share in Christmas services.

[Jenny · Rating 1 out of 5]

E picked out this collection of short stories for her first Christmas read-aloud this year. I went into it expecting to enjoy it, but was ultimately disappointed. The characters were flat, the plots uninspiring, and the theology a bit sketchy. This one will not be returning to our shelves.

[Katie]

Isaac and I read the first 2 short stories in this book. We liked one of them, but 1 of them seemed a little too adult to be in a children's book. We decided to quit this one and start a different Christmas book, since we weren't liking the short stories and changing characters over and over.

[Joyce · Rating 5 out of 5]

12 vignettes, each a story on its own and all having a title that relates it to part of the Biblical Christmas story.
Something to read each day before December 25 or one for each of the Twelve days that follow.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought a hard copy of this from Abe Books so I could read it for my book club. Katherine is such a gifted writer and each story is unique and poignant, touching on some part of Christmas. Definitely a book to pull out and read again during the Christmas season.

[Cassie · Rating 4 out of 5]

5 stories about Christmas - each one provides a unique perspective about how people experience Christmas and service during the season.