The Christmas Rocket by Anne Molloy. Illustrated by Artur Marokvia. First published as “The Four Legs of Gian-Carlo” in The Horn Book, 1957. Republished by Purple House Press, 2023.
Dino lives with his father and his grandfather and works with them in their pottery shop in the mountains of Italy. At the time of this story, it’s the day before Christmas Eve, and Dino and his father are going down the mountainside to sell the pottery that they have been making to the villagers below. They hope to sell all of their wares in order to make enough money to have some meat for their Christmas dinner, get some shoes for barefoot Dino, buy all four legs of the donkey Gian-Carlo who can carry their pottery down the mountain, and maybe even purchase a Christmas rocket for Dino to shoot off in celebration. However, as Grandfather says, “Rockets! They go up fast with a fizz and then what do you have left? A stick if you can find it. That is all.”
Of course, things do not go quite as well as Dino had hoped they would, but a Christmas miracle is awaiting the poor hardworking family. There’s a rule about writing Christmas stories (and Hallmark Christmas movies): there always has to be a Christmas miracle. The one in this book is satisfying and generous, a good ending to a hopeful Christmas story.
Author Anne Molloy wrote many books for children in her career. A biographical sketch of her life at SeacoastNH.com tells of her writing habits:
“Anne Molloy wrote her books in longhand, her feet propped up on a sofa, her paper supported by a checkerboard. She transcribed each manuscript on her husband’s Underwood typewriter. Wherever she traveled, notebook in hand, she recorded daily details and ideas, providing the rich content that distinguished all of her books and brought her plucky heroes and heroines to life.”
That’s the kind of book The Christmas Rocket is, the kind that you can imagine being written out with a pen and then typed on an Underwood. I think my grandchildren will enjoy adding this one to their Christmas repertoire.