Christmasville
First in series

by Michael Dutton

This story is about how new ideas and change disrupt the status quo, and how sometimes you have to give up something very important to find your answers. It is expressed through the circumstances surrounding 3 little girls; Maddy, who is excited about Christmastime; Caroline, who is lost; and Mary Jane, who is worried.

Mary Jane is worried because she knows that when she wakes up she will be 14 years old and that there will be snow on the ground. She can’t remember being 9 or 13 and has never seen green grass or leaves on a tree, and knows that this is unnatural. Every time she goes to sleep on January 31 the next morning is December 1 and nobody except Mary Jane seems to know that not only are the townspeople reliving the last 2 months over and over, but that town has been rearranged. The courthouse could be next to the toy store or the pharmacy or the hospital this time. Now we come to the worrisome part. Nobody else in Christmasville seems to know what Mary Jane knows, and everybody thinks that she is a challenged child because she asks weird questions. Why is it that no one ever leaves or visits Christmasville? Where is China? What makes French fries and French dressing French? How long has she been 14? What is across the railroad tracks?

While the central focus is Mary Jane, her young friends and her adventures, this is not strictly a Young Adult book. I believe that there are lessons and entertainment to be had for Un-Young Adults as well. This play on the Brigadoon “miracle” is fresh and the characters are charming in a Mayberry sort of way that make you wonder about their past, or if they really have one. I had to chuckle as I mentally connected Christmasville mayor, Fred Thompson and his sweet tooth to the Tennessee Senator of the same name and wondered if the mayor ever had theatrical aspirations in his youth. This book and next year’s parallel story will be treasures on any bookshelf. Hopefully they will find their way to yours.