The Angel Doll: A Christmas Story

We bought this book yesterday and on the way home my 11 year-old daughter read it out loud to me. We only were part way through by the time we got home so we had to stop.. Well, needless to say ,my daughter took it to bed with her. The first thing she said to me this morning was about the book. She said she cried and cried because it was so sad, but it was a good sad. She said it was the best story she has ever read. This meant alot coming from a kid who reads all the time but very rarely comments on a book. I cant wait to get home tonight so I can read the last 50 pages and find out the ending.

I have read Mr. Bledsoe’s true crime books & enjoyed them very much. It is a genre that intrigues me & the crime in Blood Games occurred only about 20 miles from where I lived for over 50 years. I was quite surprised to learn that he had written a Christmas story also. One of the special things I do each year is collect Christmas books & stories to read the month of December. So, I purchased The Angel Doll & also the sequel, A Gift of Angels. These are very short books. You can read one in an afternoon or evening. After I finished the first one, I realized that the books are about real events in Mr. Bledsoe’s life. The setting is the time period when I grew up in the early 50’s, so it brings back fond memories of growing up in a simpler time & place. This will be a book I may share with close friends but one I will keep to reread in later years. The day I started reading this book, I got a call that my five year old grandson had thrown up at school & would miss a special Christmas event the family had planned at a children’s museum with elves. Mom & Dad still wanted to take Little Brother so SOS went out to Nana. I went over & did my best to comfort the kindergartener. We watched a movie, he slept some, I read some children’s Christmas stories to him. He asked about the book I was reading that lay on the bed. I told him the story in oral storytelling fashion & he was also very interested in the story. He asked about polio & I explained we are so lucky now that someone invented medicine so children don’t get polio anymore. So, this story is appealing to people from 5 years old to 70 & older. And I now live not far from where Mr. Bledsoe lives in NC. I would love to meet him & tell him how much I have enjoyed his books.

This story is timeless. It not only goes perfect at the holidays, but it touches the heart on any day. Friendship, love & the human spirit is a winning combination in my book.

A touching christmas story, about the devotion of a little boy who tries to give his four year old polio cripple sister an angel doll as a christmas gift. The story is narrated by his best friend and paper-route partner. This is a simple story about devotion and love... Good read.

It was exactly as discribed and I was glad to get it cheap and I couldnt wait to read it.

Like many Christmas novellas, this is one you can read in under an hour. You end up with a well-spent hour. The heart of the story is about two boys growing up in a moderately poor 1950s North Carolina town. The narrator and Whitey Black meet at a part-time job and end up fast friends. Whiteys sister, who is afflicted with polio, is fascinated with angels, so Whitey looks all over to find an angel doll. I wont give away much more of the plot since to do so is to encroach on the ending. The Angel Doll has quite a bit going for it. The writing rings true, capturing the mood of the narrator, both as a boy and as an adult, and the time. There is no artifice here; the writing is to the point, and the story stays focused without meandering unnecessarily. Nor does Mr. Bledsoe allow the writing to interfere with the story. In short, this is what the late

I had only read intense books by Jerry Bledsoe. This was such a wonderful story of his early experiences. So naturally, I had to order the sequel, also. It is A Gift of Angels and is also great.

One of my favorite stories. Former newspaper columnist and author Jerry Bledsoe writes of a true tale from his childhood and adulthood. Its a loving, bittersweet portrayal of a time now long gone, with ramifications that extend much further than expected. I often give it and its sequel as gifts. There is also a movie on dvd that is of good quality.

Good story. Good reading around Christmas.

Good book!