Favor Johnson: A Christmas Story

by Willem Lange, Bert Dodson (Illustrator)

With all the elements of a classic American winter folktale, Favor Johnson: A Christmas Story has been a favorite Vermont Public Radio story for twenty-five years and is now a bright and lively picture book. Favor Johnson is a compelling curmudgeon, a loner who lives on a farm with his livestock and faithful dog. One cold night near Christmas, Favor finds his outlook on life forever changed by the kindness of a neighbor and is coaxed out of his shell. Writes Publishers Weekly: “[Willem] Lange relates this ultimately uplifting tale with all the sturdy simplicity of a wintry Vermont landscape, while [Bert] Dodson’s judicious use of color in his spare watercolors and a tight focus on the action heighten the drama.”

Genres: Christmas, Picture Books

32 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2009

About the author

From 1968 to 1972 Will directed the Dartmouth Outward Bound Center. From 1972 until his retirement in 2007, he was a building and remodeling contractor in Hanover. He's an adopted member of the Dartmouth Class of 1957.
In 1981 he began writing a weekly column, A Yankee Notebook, which appears in several New England newspapers. He's a commentator or host for Vermont Public Radio and both Vermont and New Hampshire Public Television. His annual readings of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol began in 1975 and continue unabated. He's published several audio recordings and five books and received an Emmy nomination for one of his pieces on Vermont Public Television.
In 1973 Will founded the Geriatric Adventure Society, a group of outdoor enthusiasts whose members have skied the 200-mile Alaska Marathon, climbed in Alaska, the Andes, and Himalayas, bushwhacked on skis through northern New England, and paddled rivers north of the Arctic Circle.
He and his wife, Ida, who is the proprietor of a kitchen design business, have been married since 1959. After forty years in New Hampshire, they moved recently to East Montpelier, Vermont. They have three children and four grandchildren."

Reviews

[Heather Shaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story opens with a man in a red-checked coat delivering, door-to-door, dozens of homemade fruitcakes. He bakes them at home inside tin cans, “for two people, it was a soup can. For small families, a vegetable can. For large families, a tomato can.” Then we get the background. The man’s name is Favor Johnson and he lives on a farm that used to be quite large, but isn’t anymore. Favor is poor and lives alone. Well, not completely alone. He has some cows, chickens, an old horse, a lot of cats, and a dog named Hercules. One night, on Christmas Eve, actually, Hercules goes missing. Favor searches high and low and finds that his companion has been seriously injured. For the first time, Favor finds himself in the position of, while not exactly asking for help, at least accepting it. It changes his life–it changes everyones’ lives. Dodson’s delicate and explicit illustrations are the perfect foil to this unsentimental but completely heartwarming tale. Children of all ages will enjoy the story, and adult readers will laugh out loud at the expressive joke on fruitcake. For all ages.

Review appeared originally in ForeWord magazine

[Carol Royce Owen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful story about what Christmas is all about - giving of oneself. When Favor's dog is shot by rabbit hunters and then nursed back to health by a nearby doctor, a tradition is started of Favor bringing fruitcakes to all his neighbors. A touching story of friendship and the Christmas spirit.

[Terry]

Everyone will be heartened by this beautiful story about giving of yourself to others and how priceless that gift is.

Parents should preview this book because an animal is injured in the story.