The Coal Man works hard all year, searching dark mines for the coal that Santa Claus drops into the stockings of naughty boys and girls. He's saving up money to take himself, his mule, and his trusty canary to a sunny island. This year, when the Coal Man makes his delivery to the North Pole, he gets a big surprise. Santa's not using coal anymore! Will the Coal Man ever get his day in the sun? With a little Christmas magic, he just might.
Forget Frosty the Snowman or Ruldolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. The next great holiday hero is a small, flammable chunk of barbecue fodder. He's impeccably dressed, he's terribly grumpy, and he's looking for a holiday miracle. It's unmistakably Snicket - here's the opening line: This holiday season is a time for stoytelling, and whether you are hearing the story of a candelabra staying lit for more than a week, or a baby born in a barn without proper medical supervision, these stories often feature miracles.
A satire of traditional Christmas stories and noir. A hardboiled elf is framed for murder in a North Pole world that plays reindeer games for keeps, and where favorite holiday characters live complex lives beyond December. Fired from his longtime job as captain of the Coal Patrol, two-foot-three inch 1,300-year-old elf Gumdrop Coal is angry. He's one of Santa's original elves, inspired by the fat man's vision to bring joy to children on that one special day each year. But somewhere along the way things went sour for Gumdrop. Maybe it was delivering one too many lumps of coal for the Naughty List. Maybe it's the conspiracy against Christmas that he's starting to sense down every chimney. Either way, North Pole disillusionment is nothing new: Some elves brood with a bottle of nog, trying to forget their own wish list. Some get better. Some get bitter. Gumdrop Coal wants revenge. Justice is the only thing he knows, and so he decides to give a serious wakeup call to parents who can't keep their vile offspring from landing on the Naughty List. But when one parent winds up dead, his eye shot out with a Red Ryder Carbine-Action Two-Hundred-Shot Range Model BB gun, Gumdrop Coal must learn who framed him and why. Along the way he'll escape the life-sucking plants of the Mistletoe Forrest, battle the infamous Tannenbomb Giant, and survive a close encounter with twelve very angry drummers and their violent friends. The horrible truth lurking behind the gingerbread doors of Kringle Town could spell the end of Christmas-and of the fat man himself. Holly Jolly!
Snatched from his home on Christmas Eve, eleven-year-old Charlie Peters is taken to the North Pole where he is forced to work in Santa's coal mine. There, along with other naughty children, Charlie must endure back-breaking work, battle nasty little elves, resist human/reindeer hybrids, and escape from a hideous beast with a red, glowing nose. But that isn't all. Charlie discovers a new naughty list-a Permanent Naughty List that traps children in the mines forever. And Charlie is next. In order to go home, Charlie must find the Nice List and write his name on it before it's too late. Will Charlie Peters change his selfish ways and learn the true meaning of Christmas or will he end up on the Permanent Naughty List, trapped in Santa's coal mine forever?
Did the Sioux ever come to Yorkshire? This is Roy Bainton's personal memoir of growing up in 8 different houses across Yorkshire as a young boy between 1945 to 1959. During all that time, often living in abject poverty, he was obsessed and guided by the spirit of the Sioux chief, Crazy Horse, who became his inspiration. Hilarious and poignant in turn, this vibrant picture of 1950s childhood is a nostalgia trip the reader will not forget in a hurry.
Story of the life and death of the coal-mining town Shallmar, Maryland. When the coal mine, the town's only business, closed in March 1949, the residents starved in the fall. When the story got out, aid came from nearly every state in the country as well as abroad.
The bestselling star of No, David! turns Christmas traditions upside down with laugh-aloud humor. Readers of all ages will vividly remember trying to peek at hidden gift packages; writing scrolls of wish lists to Santa; and struggling to behave at formal Christmas dinner parties. Always in the background, we know Santa Claus is watching, soon to decide if David deserves a shiny new fire truck or a lump of coal under the tree. From playing with delicate ornaments to standing in an endlessly long line for Santa, here are common Christmas activities--but with David's naughty trimmings. A surefire hit that is destined to be an annual classic.
A New York Times Bestseller • Shortlisted for the 2022 Booker Prize One of the New York Times's 100 Best Books of the 21st Century "A hypnotic and electrifying Irish tale that transcends country, transcends time." —Lily King, New York Times bestselling author of Writers & Lovers Small Things Like These is award-winning author Claire Keegan's landmark new novel, a tale of one man's courage and a remarkable portrait of love and family It is 1985 in a small Irish town. During the weeks leading up to Christmas, Bill Furlong, a coal merchant and family man faces into his busiest season. Early one morning, while delivering an order to the local convent, Bill makes a discovery which forces him to confront both his past and the complicit silences of a town controlled by the church. An international bestseller, Small Things Like These is a deeply affecting story of hope, quiet heroism, and empathy from one of our most critically lauded and iconic writers.
